


The Losers Club and the Year Of Pining

by dgalerab



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, An Odd Blend of Crossover and AU, Eddie & Richie & Stan Are Animagi, F/M, Gen, Internalized Homophobia, Just Hogwarts Shenanigans Really, M/M, Oblivious Eddie Kaspbrak, Pining Richie Tozier, Rated M to be safe tbh, Slow Burn, Werewolf Bill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 16:02:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21139355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dgalerab/pseuds/dgalerab
Summary: It's their last year of Hogwarts, and the Losers Club has dementors, the Bowers gang and most importantly, Richie and Eddie's absolute failure to communicate their feelings to deal with.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have any gd clue where this fic is going or how much plot it will have. It's... *gestures vaguely while sighing* It's a Harry Potter AU, that's all I got.

“Wow,” Richie said. “You’re actually on time. Did my lovin’ finally win your mom over?”

Eddie glared at him. “Could you shut the fuck up for once in your life?”

Richie shrugged, Hawaiian shirt billowing as he hopped onto the cart carrying his luggage. Bill rushed forward to help Eddie get his trunk onto a cart of his own.

He glanced at Bill. “Where’s Georgie?”

“M-My parents saw him to the train,” Bill said. His stutter always got worse when it was nearing  _ that _ time. “I t-told him I’d m-meet with you g-guys and f-find him at dinner.”

Eddie eyed him. He doubted Bill would be able to stay for all of dinner.

“He’s got the cutest lil friends with him,” Richie said. “A couple of Bill’s neighbors. Were we that small when we were first years? I mean, other than Eddie?”

Eddie glowered at him.

“H-How was your summer?” Bill asked.

“Fine, I guess,” Eddie said, still morose as he joined Richie. “I think my mom realized if she didn’t manage to stop me from going to Hogwarts for the last six years, she might as well let me finish.”

Richie snorted. “Admit it. I wore her out.”

Eddie shot him a dirty look. To be fair, though, Richie was sort of right. Last summer, Richie, Bev and Bill had snuck Eddie out his window when he’d sent them a letter telling them that his mother was refusing to let him go to Hogwarts, and that had probably been the breaking point for his mother. 

She’d nonetheless argued with him all through the summer, citing how dangerous the wizarding world could be, how it had claimed his father and how he was breaking her heart by letting it claim him in kind. He had very cautiously avoided telling her about the Chamber of Secrets opening last year or the rumors that You-Know-Who had been parading about in the back of Professor Quirrel’s head the year before that, but she’d found plenty of other things to fret about.

“Good thing she doesn’t keep up with wizard news,” Richie said.

Eddie gave him a confused look. He didn’t dare get any wizarding newspapers delivered to his house. For one, his mother would never approve of him keeping an owl anywhere near his room, not with all the diseases birds could carry. Secondly, if she heard any murmur of the things going on in the wizarding world that distressed her, she’d lose it. A single mention of the resurgence of the Dark Lord, and Eddie’s window would have had bars on it.

“Sirius Black e-escaped from Azkaban,” Bill said. “There’s going to be dementors all over the campus.”

“Oh,” Eddie said.

“Maybe they’ll give you a little kiss,” Richie offered, making kissing noises at him. “Wouldn’t be so much worse than a kiss from mommy.”

“Fuck you,” Eddie said, rolling his eyes. “Do you think he’d really be on campus…?”

“Don’t worry, Eds,” Richie cooed. “I’ll protect you from any crazed convicts.”

Eddie shoved him. “It’s going to be kind of hard to sneak around then, isn’t it?”

“Nah,” Richie said. “Dementors aren’t going to be interested in any cute lil kitty cats.” He winked, and Eddie rolled his eyes. Richie wasn’t subtle, and it was going to get them in trouble eventually.

Bill nodded quietly, looking pale. “It might be.”

“You okay?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah,” Bill said. “And it’s okay if you g-guys don’t sneak ar-around…” 

“Shut up,” Richie said. “We’ll be there.”

He took a running jump onto his cart and through the barrier for platform 9¾. Eddie sighed and gave Bill an encouraging smile before following him.

The others were already waiting for them beside the train.

Ben had had another growth spurt over the summer. He was nearly as tall as Richie now, and it changed the way the fading baby fat on his cheeks looked too. 

Only Bev had really stayed the same height, and she was busy cooing over her pet toad. “Did you miss me?” she was saying, making kissing noises at it. “Oh, you’re as handsome as the day you were born.”

Ben, ever the loyal summer toad-sitter, waved at them awkwardly.

Stan gave Bill a sidelong look. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

Bill nodded. “I’ll b-b-be fine.”

“Isn’t he the finest toad you’ve ever seen?” Bev asked, stretching out the toad. According to Bev, the toad’s name was Richard. According to Richie, it “had better not be.”

Stan squinted at it.

“Don’t you just wanna gobble him up?” Richie said, elbowing Stan. “In one biiiiig gulp and…”

Stan smacked him away as Richie grinned at him. “Just get on the train,” Stan said.

Richie saluted him, hopping onto the train and helping them with their trunks.

They found an empty compartment after some searching and settled in. Eddie slumped into the seats, sighing as he counted the change in his pocket. He and Richie were trying to collect the last few chocolate frog cards, and they’d probably blow most of their leftover change from the summer on it.

A knock on the door startled Eddie out of his counting. 

Fred Miller, a Slytherin boy in their year, leaned his head in. “Hey, Richie,” he said.

Richie looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“Just wanted to warn you - Bowers and his crew are on a real high from being seventh years. They nearly killed some girl’s cat with a hex just now. If you’re back late tonight, be careful. You  _ really _ don’t want them to catch you alone today.”

Richie nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks Freddy,” he said.

Fred returned the nod with a sharp jerk of his head, then closed the door and took off.

“Th-that was nice,” Bill said.

“Don’t act so surprised! We’re not all bad,” Richie declared. “Fred rooms with me. He’s alright, I guess. Doesn’t ask a lot of questions.” He shrugged. “Anyway, not like I’ll be there tonight anyway. Not when we’re having a foxy time with Big Bill.” He gave them all a playful leer.

Eddie groaned.

“No,” Stan said, looking away.

“I hate to think about you being alone with those guys,” Mike said.

“Me? When you’re trapped with all those terrifying Hufflepuffs?” Richie asked. “Ooo, they might bore you to deeeeeath.” He wriggled his fingers like he was telling a ghost story.

Mike shook his head, smiling softly. “Just be careful, okay?”

Richie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Not like I can’t go to Ravenclaw common room any time I want, with those weak-ass riddles. I think they get easier every year.”

Stan sighed. “If you leave fur all over my shit again…”

“I could have been in Ravenclaw, you know,” Richie said loudly. “The hat asked, but  _ I _ told ‘im I didn’t want anything to do with that nerd shit…”

Eddie sighed. They’d heard this story a dozen times before.

“Right, right,” Bev said. “I’m going to change. Help me out?”

Richie grabbed his robes from his trunk and stood, holding them up to cover her as Ben and Mike did the same. Between the three of them, she had a decent tent in which to change without being seen.

Eddie looked up at Richie, who gazed at the ceiling while she got dressed.

He didn’t generally worry about Richie - Richie’s roommates weren’t bad as far as Slytherins went, and Richie was better at solving Ravenclaw’s riddles than most Ravenclaws were, making it easy for him to hide away whenever Bowers gang was on the hunt, but Fred Miller’s warning did have Eddie on edge. Bowers and his cohort were bad even among the worst of Slytherin, and now they were in their final year, the top dogs. Not to mention there were rumors that even if they  _ were  _ expelled, there were some very promising opportunities on the rise for the kids of ex-Death Eaters.

“Alright, you can put ‘em down,” Bev said, throwing herself down beside Bill, now in her robes. “You know, we could always give you the Gryffindor passwords too…”

Richie blew a raspberry at her. “I don’t need your charity. I can escape on my own merit. And anyway, it’s fine. As long as I don’t talk about my dad…”

Richie’s dad was a dentist. Not a good look for a Slytherin. His mother, on the other hand, was a perfectly respectable auror, which did take some of the heat off of Richie.

“Hufflepuff wouldn’t mind having a visitor or two, you know,” Mike said. “I wouldn’t even have to hide you.”

“It’s  _ fine,” _ Richie said. “I am going to get fur all over Stan’s shit, though.”

Bill shuddered, pulling his arms in to his chest.

“You gonna make it through dinner there, Billy?” Richie asked.

Bill nodded, looking peaked. “I’m okay.”

Bev leaned over and squeezed his arm. “Hang in there.”

“It’s not quite full moon yet,” Bil said weakly. “I’m f-fine, really.”

Richie gave him a sympathetic look. “We’ll sneak off after dinner, ‘kay?”

“Y-Yeah,” Bill said. “Thanks.”

**

“Damn,” Richie said. “Dumbledore again.”

Eddie slammed his hand down on the chocolate frog as it leapt onto the window. “Stop letting them loose!”

“I didn’t let them,” Richie replied. “They want to be free!”

The train’s wheels screeched below them as it ground to a halt.

Bill looked up, confused. “Are w-we stopping?”

Richie leapt to his feet, poking his head out, Bev tight on his heels. “Oh, shit,” Richie whispered.

“What?” Eddie asked.

“They’re checking the train,” Bev murmured.

A chill washed over Bill as Richie quickly backed into the compartment, sitting down. He looked pale. He and Mike glanced out the door past Bev. A large hooded figure moved down the walkway, peering into the compartments.

Bev swallowed, standing her ground, but even she looked shaken as the dementor glided past. Her hands tightened on the door as it stared at her, feet planted between the dementor and the others.

It didn’t slow, but its hooded head turned to keep watching her as it moved past.

Bill shivered, feelings washing over him. He found himself thinking of that day nearly eight years ago, the wolf charging at Georgie, the despair on his parents’ face when he’d woken up in the hospital, the quiet nights of hearing them wonder what to do with him…

Even Richie shrank back, folding in on himself next to Eddie, who grabbed for his arm.

The dementor moved on, and the choking despair faded with it, albeit slowly.

“Hate those things,” Richie said shakily.

“Are they all like that?” Eddie asked.

“Never seen one before,” Richie mumbled. “But I feel sorry for those bastards in Azkaban now…”

Bev let out a slow breath. “It’s gone.”

“I sh-should check on Georgie,” Bill mumbled, trying to shake off the vestiges of the cold that had crawled inside his veins. “He might be sc-scared.”

“I’ll come with,” Stan mumbled. “I need a breather.”

“Yeah, me too,” Richie blurted.

“We’ll stay here and watch over your stuff,” Ben offered. Mike nodded with him.

Richie stood dragging Eddie with him.

Bill let out a sigh of relief, glad he didn’t have to go on his own. The train still felt oddly grim after the dementor’s appearance. Bev let him out first and they all trailed after him as he made his way down the compartments until he found Georgie.

Georgie lit up at the sight of him, running forward to put his arms around Bill’s middle. “Did you see it, Billy? It was so tall and scary!”

“Yeah,” Bill said. “But they’re not here to h-hurt you. They just want to m-make sure everything’s safe.”

Georgie nodded into his shirt. “Okay, Bill.” He glanced over Bill’s shoulder at the others and waved.

Richie waved back with a grin.

“Do you want to c-come s-sit with us?” Bill asked.

Georgie shook his head. “I’m a big kid now,” he said. “And we’re playing I-Spy.”

Bill smiled. “Okay. Well, we’re one car down, so if you n-need anything, I’m there. Sometimes big kids need stuh-stuff too, alright?”

“Yeah, Eddie needs help with stuff all the time,” Richie said, grinning.

Georgie smiled wide. “Okay.”

“H-Have fun, alright?” Bill said, patting his head. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

Georgie nodded. “Okay Bill. See you there.”

He waved at the others, then vanished back into the compartment.

“You think he’ll be in Gryffindor?” Eddie asked.

“Nah,” Richie said. “That kid’s a Hufflepuff through and through. He’s Mike’s brother now, Bill.”

Bill snorted at him. “Mike’s the only one I’d trust with him.”

“Hey,” Bev said. “I’d take good care of your brother.”

“M-Maybe,” Bill teased. “But not as good as Mike.”

Bev grinned at him. “Fair enough.”

Things had been awkward between them this summer. Or at least, they hadn’t sent as many letters to each other. Beverly had gotten together with Ben at the end of last year, and she’d also moved in with her aunt. In part to protect herself and in part so she wouldn’t have to worry about her dad finding any postcards from Muggleborn Ben. Bill hadn’t been sure if Bev had just been too busy with that or if she’d still been unsure how to deal with the awkward breakup of their even more awkward non-relationship at the beginning of the year, in which they’d kissed all of three times before Bev had admitted she liked Ben and hadn’t known what to do with it.

But now everything seemed fine between them, and Bill breathed a little easier.

Bev bumped her shoulder against his as they returned to their compartment with a smile. He returned it nervously

“Whew,” Richie said as they returned to the compartment. “I still feel queasy. You think those things’ll be prowling the halls all year?”

“They’re supposed to say on the edge of the grounds,” Mike said. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“Good,” Eddie said. “I don’t like them at all.” He narrowed his eyes. “We’re really gonna sneak past them, huh?”

“You chicken, Mr. Gryffindor?” Richie teased.

“We can’t all be cold blooded,” Eddie snapped. “And I’m still doing it.”

“Stan’s got eat easy,” Richie sighed.

Stan shuddered. “I wouldn’t call it easy. I don’t think they’ll be any prettier from above.”

“I can’t believe Bill wouldn’t let us come along,” Bev whined.

“S-Soon,” Bill said. “When it’s legal.”

Bev sighed loudly.  _ “Fine.  _ But then we’ll be there every month, you hear?”

Bill smiled at her shyly. “Okay.”

**

“George Denbrough!” McGonagall called.

Stan sat up straight, giving Georgie a smile as he passed. Ben joined in, and Stan could hear Richie whoop in the distance, but couldn’t see Bill from where they were sitting.

Georgie gave them a nervous look as he passed, and Stan watched him intently as he relaxed a little as he caught sight of Bill, probably.

He needed help getting onto the stool, looking very small as the hat was settled on his head. There was a moment of silence, then, “Hufflepuff!”

Stan grinned, twisting to find Richie as he mouthed,  _ Called it! _ at Stan.

Stan shook his head, but got up onto his knee to see Mike shoot up from where he was sitting to welcome Georgie over, smiling brightly.

“I’m glad Mike has someone with him,” Ben remarked.

“Yeah, now we can worry about Richie with a clear conscience,” Stan said, eyes lingering on Richie as Richie took note of Bowers and his cohorts giving him looks for clapping loudly for Georgie and went silent.

“I’ll make room under my bed,” Ben said. “I think he’ll be there more often than last year…”

“Someone’s going to notice,” Stan muttered. He craned his neck until he caught sight of Bev’s red hair, Bill beside her. A few more first years later, he watched as Bill quietly got up from his seat and tiptoed out. It wasn’t exactly subtle, but Stan could see how shaky Bill looked. People would probably assume he was just sick.

Stan waited for the ceremony to wrap up, made sure to eat enough for the night - he’d made the mistake of going out on an empty stomach before, and he was not keen to repeat  _ that _ mistake - and then elbowed Ben.

They both excused themselves, hurrying down one of the empty halls, both checking for anyone looking.

“I think you’re good,” Ben said. “What should I tell people?”

“Tell them I’m in the library studying ahead for Arithmancy,” Stan said.

Ben nodded. “Okay. Careful with the dementors.”

Stan gave him a curt nod, then opened the window, stepping onto the sill before letting himself drop.

He’d never understand why this was the easiest way to shift, because it made his stomach do flips every time, but as his wings unfurled and he glided over the grounds, it faded away.

He always missed this freedom during the summer. Of course, he could always go for a spin while his parents weren’t home, but being an unlicensed animagus in a household with two Ministry officials was… well, it was riskier than Stan liked. If it hadn’t been for Bill’s condition and Richie’s incessant pestering, Stan would have never imagined he’d dare to do such a thing.

But with the wind in his feathers, he found that he didn’t regret it one bit.

He made a few spins around the campus, checking for dementors. They were spaced out along the boundary of the grounds, only a few of them scattered near the route to Hogsmead.

Stan swooped back to the castle, finding Eddie just as Richie leapt out from behind a column to scare the hell out of him with a loud hiss.

Eddie yelped, clapping his hands over his mouth and then shoving Richie hard.

Richie stumbled, giggling and holding his arm out for Stan to land on. “Hello, Stan,” he said. “How’s the weather up there?”

Stan hooted at him dryly.

Richie seemed to think it was very funny that Stan turned into an owl, and Stan assumed he would never stop being entertained by it.

“Can we make it past the dementors?” Eddie asked.

Stan hooted in the way they knew meant yes after years of working out codes.

“C’mon, don’t be a puss,” Richie said, prodding Eddie’s cheek. “Or, you know,  _ do.” _

Eddie glared at him, and took one more glance around before lowering himself down.

In the dark, Eddie could pass for a very large housecat, but as he swivelled around, the spiky ears and short tail gave him away. It was a bit of a problem, really - unlike Stan and Richie, Eddie didn’t have the luck of blending into the local wildlife. Bobcats weren’t native to the UK, and anyone who got close could tell he wasn’t a normal cat. 

But at least Eddie was also a great deal better at being subtle than Richie.

Richie tossed Stan back into the air and joined Eddie, fluffy orange tail bobbing as he bounced up and down around him.

Stan glided over them, leading them so they avoided the dementors by as wide a berth as possible.

Stan had heard of the Shrieking Shack before getting to Hogwarts. When Bill had told them the truth about it, Stan had hardly believed him. There were so many legends of creatures recorded in no book, darker version of the ghosts they were all familiar with, it was hard to believe that it was just one (now two) werewolves who’d started it all.

But then Richie had pestered them into becoming animagi - despite the fact that he’d been the most scared of seeing a real live werewolf - and Stan had flown through every crevice of the house looking for anything dangerous (that wasn’t Bill) and had found nothing, and now it was almost homey.

He slipped through one of the top windows, landing on the top of the stairs.

Bill, fully transformed, snapped at the noise on instinct, then settled when he saw it was just Stan.

He always timed it so he was already shifted by the time they got here. He didn’t like the thought of them seeing him mid-transformation, and they allowed him that privacy. Stan had heard it was painful.

Richie wormed his way through one of the crevices between boards along the walls, nipping at Bill’s tail and then scrabbling under the furniture before Bill could whirl around to retaliate. His own fluffy tail wagged out from behind the table, a grin on his pointed face.

It had taken Richie a few tries to get as damn annoying as a fox has he was as a person.

It didn’t help that the second time they’d hung out as animals was with a fully transformed werewolf. Without his jokes, Richie had been all too easy to read as he’d flattened himself into the floor, terrified of Bill no matter how hard he tried not to be.

But Bill was harmless to them as animals, as long as they kept from being nipped at. He was slower than all of them, big and lumbering next to Richie and Eddie, and Stan could easily fly well out of reach.

Now, Richie almost had more personality as a fox than he did as a person, even if he couldn’t run his mouth.

Personally, Stan liked him better this way.

He found a good place to settle, tucking his talons in, and closed his eyes.

**

Ben woke to a quiet shuffling. The sun was already peeking out on the horizon, and he yawned. He’d been waiting for Stan to get back, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.

Stan cursed, a large bag over his shoulder.

Richie’s little orange head poked out, and Stan shoved it back in, glancing around as he put the bag down and shoved it under Ben’s bed. There was a quiet scrabbling as Richie settled under his bed, and then Stan sighed a breath of relief. “Now be  _ quiet,” _ he whispered. “Or we’re going to get into so much trouble.”

Richie’s tail swished out from under the bed, and Ben quickly slid the blankets over the edge to hide him.

Stan sighed. “Bowers was right outside the Slytherin common room,” he whispered. “I couldn’t make Richie try to get past him.”

Ben nodded. “Good thinking.”

“Stay under there until the morning, you little shit,” Stan whispered. “I’ll sneak you out in my bag before breakfast.”

Richie snuffled at him quietly, and Stan clambered into bed, sprawling out and falling right asleep.

**

Eddie yawned, smacking Richie away as Richie tried to steal his food off his plate. “Why didn’t you get your own?”

“Hey, I slept in a pile of sheets last night, have some sympathy!” Richie whined.

“Ben built that nest for you, I know it’s comfortable,” Eddie muttered.

Ben smiled at that. “Well, it could use a little more padding, but I think we can make a pretty good little cove for Richie.”

“If Bowers keeps hanging out in front of the common room all year, we might have to,” Richie muttered, resting his chin on Eddie’s shoulder. “I thought for sure I’d be able to sneak past him, but it’s like he’s patrolling the damn hallway, the jackass.”

“Get off,” Eddie muttered. “Your chin’s pointy.”

Richie pouted and slumped against Bev instead, looking at her sweetly before snatching a pastry off her plate. She let him.

“How’s G-Georgie?” Bill asked, dark circles under his eyes giving away how tired he was. He’d slept less than any of them, probably, not to mention the toll of the transformation.

“He’s doing good,” Mike said with a comforting smile. “He’s making friends really easily and everyone loves him. He was a little bit homesick, but I stayed up with him to help him get his summer work ready, and he seemed cheered up.”

“What’s the lil guy’s first class?” Richie asked.

“Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Mike said.

“Who’s the teacher th-this year?” Bill asked. He’d had to leave before it was announced, Ben realized.

“Remus Lupin,” Richie recalled. “He looked pretty boring, which is probably the best we can ask for this year after… well…” He gestured at the back of his head.

“What’s your schedule?” Stan asked, ignoring him.

Richie reached into his pocket to unfold his schedule and squint at it. “Oh, shit, I’m late for History of Magic!” he yelped, nearly knocking Bev over as he leapt up and took off at high speed.

“He’s going to die this year,” Stan said, picking up the forgotten piece of paper. “Oh, but he has Potions with you guys.”

Eddie groaned. “No,” he said. “He keeps pissing Snape off. He’s going to get me detention too.”

“But on the bright side, I hear we’ll be learning to brew Amortentia this year,” Stan said. “That might be useful.”

Eddie gave him a look. “For what? I didn’t think you were interested in anyone.”

Stan stared at the wall for a good long moment to calm himself. “Nevermind.”

Eddie shrugged, yawning.

“And we have Charms with him,” Stan muttered. “That should be fun. Mike has Transfiguration with him, and you guys have Care of Magical Creatures with him, too.”

“Good,” Eddie said. “I was hoping to share his book.”

“Y-You don’t have your own?” Bill asked.

“Yes, Bill, I told my mom I need a man-eating monster book,” Eddie said, rolling his eyes. “Of course I don’t.”

Bill granted him that with a small bow of his head.

“Anyway, if we’re with Richie, I’ll have no problem using his,” Eddie said. “I’ll just say I lost mine.” He yawned. “I don’t envy Richie, having History of Magic first thing in the morning like this. He’s definitely going to fall asleep.”

“Has anyone ever stayed awake in History of Magic?” Bev asked.

“I like History of Magic,” Ben said.

“With Binns?” Bev asked, grinning at him.

Ben blushed. She had a point there. “He’s not great, no.”

She snorted. “Well, at least Richie will get some sleep.”

“And then steal my notes…” Stan muttered. He stretched his arms, shaking his head and yawning. “Alright, well, we better get to Potions before we’re as late as Richie.”

He got up, offering Mike a hand while Ben gathered his things, giving Bev a quick kiss on the cheek.

Mike waited until they were out of earshot before shoving Stan gently. “That was mean about the Amortentia,” he said.

Ben glanced between them. “Wait, what?”

“It’s our last year, they better figure it out,” Stan said.

“Oh, that,” Ben said. He’d noticed Richie’s glances, which felt a lot like the ones he’d been trying to hide from Bev all last year. “You think Eddie feels the same way?”

“I don’t know  _ what _ Eddie’s thinking,” Stan sighed. “I never thought I’d say this, but he’s actually considerably dumber than Richie.”

“You shouldn’t tease them,” Ben muttered. “I’m sure Richie’s trying his best.”

“I’m teasing  _ Eddie,” _ Stan said. “I assume he’ll never pick up on it anyway.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “Still.”

Stan groaned at them. “You’re both too nice. We’ll never get anywhere with them like this.”

“I’m more worried about keeping Richie out of danger,” Ben muttered.

Stan sighed, clearly worried as well. “Yeah, that too.”

“Maybe we should slip the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff passwords into his bag,” Mike suggested. “Shuffle him around all year.”

“It’s certainly one option,” Stan said. “Or we get Bowers expelled…” 

“I wish,” Mike said. He checked his watch. “Shit, we’re not doing either if we get detention from Snape, come on.”

He took off running, Stan and Ben after him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no wait i'm gonna have to add the angst with a happy ending tag oh no

“Wake up, Tozier,” a voice said, shaking him none too gently.

Richie groaned. “What the fuck?”

Andy Corcoran stood over him. He was always kind of a dick, but he was a decidedly tolerable dick most of the time. Richie didn’t know what  _ this _ fresh hell was.

“The Bowers gang left to go to the bathroom,” he said. “So if you want to avoid them with us, you better get dressed and book it now.”

“Oh,” Richie said. “Shit.” He hurried to grab his glasses and get dressed quickly. It was way too early for this, but he had to admit - he owed Andy this one. He grabbed his books for the day and shoved them into his bag, pulling on his robes and dashing after his roommates. 

He slipped past them to peek out around the corner. No sign of Bowers.

They hurried down the stairs and out into the hallway. Richie let out a slow breath. “Okay,” he said, turning back to Andy and Freddy. “Thanks, man.”

“Let us borrow your Charms homework this weekend, and we’re even,” Freddy said.

Richie sighed. Of course they hadn’t helped him for free. Then again, he’d rather let his roommates cheat off of him than run into Bowers, by far. And besides, he was mooching off of Stan’s neat note-taking half the time too. He nodded. “Yeah, yeah, sure. See you in class.”

He took off to the Grand Hall to get some breakfast, yawning.

It was still chilly this early in the morning, and he’d forgotten to put on a sweater under his robes. He tried to pull his robes tighter around himself to keep himself from shivering, but he really wanted to be back in bed.

He loaded his pockets full of food and found their usual corner to curl up in, trying not to doze off as he nibbled at his haul.

Eddie, Bill and Bev found him as he was trying to wake up by slapping his cheeks. 

“You’re early,” Bev said. “Are you sick?”

“I couldn’t deprive you a single second of my wonderful personality,” Richie cooed. He pulled a cauldron cake from his pocket. “You hungry, Eds?”

Eddie made a face at him. “That’s been in your pocket. Gross.” He squinted at Richie. “You’re shivering.”

Richie shrugged. “Forgot a sweater. It’ll warm up.”

“Jeez,” Eddie said. “You’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached.” He pulled his own scarf off and bent over Richie to wrap it around him instead.

Richie’s stomach fluttered. The scarf smelled like Eddie, a blend of Eddie’s toothpaste and that odd musk that Richie had never smelled anywhere else but close to Eddie. “Ew, no, don’t give me Gryffindor cooties, what will I tell the Slytherin ladies?” Richie cried, before anyone noticed how wide his eyes went.

“Oh, shut up,” Eddie said. “Gretta Keene isn’t falling head over heels over your sniffly ass anyway, so there’s no point in catching your death out here.”

“If you think this is cold enough to catch your death,” Richie said, “how are you going to make it through the winter?”

Eddie shoved him aside, finding a place to sit next to Richie.

Richie wanted to lean into him, but having his face shoved in Eddie’s scarf already felt too risky. His heart pounded in his chest painfully, and he drew his knees in to press it to his face.

Stan, Mike and Ben joined them all together.

“Ready for Defense Against the Dark Arts today?” Bev asked Stan, flexing her feet against Ben. “I hear Professor Lupin is teaching all the years the same thing and one of the second years nearly passed out yesterday.”

“What?” Eddie said, looking alarmed. “Why?”

Bev shrugged. “Who knows?”

“He d-didn’t look mean,” Bill offered.

“It’s probably a rumor,” Stan said. “You know how people get. Last year half the school was supposedly the heir of Slytherin.”

“I still think it’s an insult no one even  _ tried _ to suspect any of us,” Richie said. “I mean, sure, Eddie would probably piss himself if he had to come face to face with a snake, but…” 

“Don’t mind snakes actually,” Eddie said, distracted as he dug into his breakfast. “Honestly I kind of like them.”

Richie’s stomach flipped again.  _ He doesn’t secretly mean you, _ he told himself. Eddie’s smell in his face was messing with his head. “Awwww, I knew you loved me!” he shouted, hugging Eddie aggressively.

“I didn’t mean you!” Eddie shrieked, shoving him away. “I just mean they’re clean as far as animals go!”

Richie fell back, laughing, but he had his confirmation. It settled in his chest, a relief and a pang of hurt at the same time.

Eddie grumbled at him and returned to his breakfast.

“Well, if any of you dies, I guess Mike and I will play hookie tomorrow,” Richie said.

Mike shook his head, grinning. “No one’s going to die.”

“After the last two professors we had in that class? We might,” Richie replied.

Bev snorted. “If we die, we’ll let you know at lunch.”

Richie saluted her. “Your service is appreciated.” He shoved an entire pastry into his mouth.

“If you puke on my scarf I will end you,” Eddie snapped.

Richie showed him the half chewed food in his mouth, and Eddie shrieked in rage.

**

“What the fuck happened to you?” Richie asked at lunch, straddling the bench beside the Gryffindor table.

“Just kill me,” Eddie mumbled, robes pulled over his head.

“Sure, sure,” Richie said. “Hey, you want your scarf back? I might have drooled on it when I fell asleep in Transfiguration, but…”

“Gross,” Eddie said. “No. Keep it, I have another.”

Mike watched Stan’s face as Richie quickly shoved the scarf into his bag like he’d won the lottery. Stan’s sanity seemed to be hanging by a thread. Mike tried not to laugh.

“So, did you die?” Richie asked Bev.

“No,” she said. “It wasn’t that bad.”

Eddie finally lifted his head. “It was. It  _ was _ that bad.”

“It w-wasn’t,” Bill said. “Really.”

“It’s Richie’s fault,” Eddie said miserably. “You and your garbage jokes.”

Richie looked at him, eyes wide. “What’d I do? I wasn’t even there!”

“We learned about boggarts,” Bev said. “Since Professor Quirrel never really got around to it.”

“Oh, yeah, poor guy,” Richie said. “Probably would have fainted if he saw a boggart.” He cocked his head at Eddie. “How’s that  _ my _ fault?”

“We had to think of something funny to deal with it,” Eddie muttered. “But there was just this fucking leper coming at me and I panicked and… Ugh, and  _ you…!” _

“What?!” Richie said, finally catching on to where this was going and grinning wide. “Did you turn it into your m--”

“Don’t say it,” Eddie snapped. “Do not say it!”

“Your sexy, sexy m--mphfff!!” Richie continued loudly until Eddie clapped his hand over his mouth.

“Don’t even--!” Eddie yelled. “It’s not fucking funny, asshole! It was worse than the boggart itself!”

Richie started laughing behind his hand, nearly falling off his seat.

“Honestly, I can’t unsee it,” Bev said. “It was… well…”

Richie wrenched Eddie’s hand away. “Was she naked?”

“No! Gross!” Eddie yelled. “Just stop asking about it!”

“Bikini?” Richie asked excitedly.

Bev nodded.

“You turned a boggart into a pinup of your mom?!” Richie blurted, shrieking with laughter as Eddie pinned him to the bench and tried to strangle him.

“It’s your fault with all your jokes about fucking my mom! It’s the first thing I thought of when I was supposed to find a joke, you dick!”

“I knew you thought I was funny!”

“I don’t think you’re funny, I think you’re an  _ ass!” _

Richie let out a strangled noise under the table as they both crashed to the ground.

“I th-think a lot of people were glad it went wrong,” Bill said softly. “I know I w-was glad it didn’t g-get to me.”

Stan patted him on the back. “I’m sure you’re not the first person to be scared of a werewolf,” he said. “No one would put it together.”

Bill nodded. “St-Still. I don’t think anyone will tease. It was a r-relief to all of us.”

Eddie and Richie sat up, Richie considerably more ruffled. “Yeah, Eds, who hasn’t conjured their half naked mom to cheer themselves up?” Richie teased.

Eddie glared at him. “I hope you pee yourself, whatever you see.”

“Ouch, Eds,” Richie said. “You  _ want  _ me to get scared? And in front of Bowers?”

He looked slightly pale even as he flicked peas at Bev.

“Ugh,” Eddie said, softening. “Come on, you know I don’t. Besides, you’ll be fine. Joking is your only talent.”

“You think it’s a talent?!” Richie said excitedly, quickly hiding his queasy look with enthusiasm.

“Fuck off,” Eddie said, shoving him away. “I didn’t say they were good jokes, just that you’re good at making them all the time.”

“Hey, maybe I’ll make a pinup of your mom too. We’ll match!”

“Beep beep Richie.”

Mike watched Richie carefully, even as the conversation moved on and Richie poked and prodded at Eddie. He wondered what it was that scared Richie the most.

Whatever it was, Mike was determined to be there for him through it.

They finished their food, leaving to go to their respective classes.

Once the others headed off to Transfiguration, Mike cleared his throat. “So, what are you scared of Rich?”

Richie thought about it as they gathered their things. “Probably clowns. You?”

“My parents dying,” Mike said softly. “Seeing them die again.”

Richie went quiet for a moment, then said, “Shit, I forgot my book in my room. Can I borrow yours?”

Mike looked him up and down. His tie had been a mess this morning, he’d forgotten stuff… it was like he’d left his room early, and he looked tired. “Sure,” he said. “You know, if you ever want to stay in our room, Georgie’d be happy to see you.”

“Psh,” Richie said. “Nah. You think I’m scared of Bowers? No way.”

It was slightly undercut by the way he was glancing around for Bowers and his friends as they entered the room. The desks had been pushed aside to make space.

They found a place off to the corner, slightly behind Gretta Keene’s posse. She gave them a dirty look, but it kept them hidden from Bowers and his friends when they finally entered. Richie kept his head down, shuffling close to Mike.

Lupin joined them a moment later, rolling up his sleeves. “Hello everyone. As you all heard at the banquet, my name is Professor Lupin. I’ll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”

He pulled out a large chest, which rattled as he slid it into the middle of the room. “Now I’m sure you’ve all heard by now what our first lesson will be.”

Greta leaned over to whisper something to someone, and her posse giggled all at once.

Lupin raised a brow at them. “Yes, there have been some interesting approaches in the previous classes,” he said, smiling gently. 

Richie snorted to himself, covering his mouth. Mike smiled too, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. The thought of poor Eddie conjuring the worst possible joke in front of everyone was terrible, but it was also undeniably funny.

“Miss…?” Lupin prompted.

“Keene,” Greta said, popping her gum lazily.

“Do you know what we’re learning about today?” Lupin asked.

“Boggarts,” Greta said, sounding deeply bored.

“And do you know what we use to deal with a boggart?”

“Laughter,” she said with a sigh. “But I don’t know the spell, so don’t ask me.”

“That’s alright,” Lupin said. “Ten points to Slytherin. You’re absolutely right. Laughter is the key.”

She shrugged.

“Damn,” Richie muttered. He’d been on a quest to lose Slytherin the house cup every year ever since Snape had bullied Eddie in their first year, Mike was told.

“Does anyone know the spell itself?” Lupin asked.

Richie elbowed Mike in the side. “Riddikulus,” he whispered.

Mike rolled his eyes. “Riddikulus,” he said, louder.

Lupin’s eyes landed on Richie, and Richie grinned sheepishly, stepping ever so slightly behind Mike as if to say,  _ Please give Hufflepuff the points? _

Lupin smiled to himself. “Well done Mister…?”

Richie nudged Mike aggressively.

“Hanlon,” Mike said.

“Mr. Hanlon. Ten points to Hufflepuff as well.”

Richie let out a sigh of relief, and Mike rolled his eyes.

“The spell is, in fact, Riddikulus,” Lupin said, giving Richie a knowing look. “And it is cast by envisioning something funny in the place of the boggart.”

Richie nearly choked on a laugh, probably thinking of Eddie’s failed attempt again.

“Now, we’re going to get right into it,” Lupin said. “The boggart will likely dart from person to person, so be prepared for it to get to you.”

He opened the chest, then stepped aside swiftly.

Patrick Hockstetter was nearest to the chest, and the moment the chest creaked open, a rotting corpse shot out of it, snarling and clawing at Patrick. He cursed, darting back, but he raised his wand and shouted, “Riddikulus.”

The corpse burst into slime, crawling towards Betty Ripsom, a small Hufflepuff girl, who danced away as it formed into a large dog, snapping and snarling at her.

“Ri-Riddikulus!” she shouted, staggering back even as the dog turned into a seal, barks becoming higher pitched as it rolled around on its blubber.

It rolled towards Greta, morphing into a large spider. She grimaced, but easily cast the spell to send it sprawling back as a particularly ugly hat.

The hat rolled in front of Bowers, and Mike flinched. This was not going to end well.

There was a man before them, dressed as an Auror, older and severe.

Bowers froze.

He brandished his wand, but he didn’t move.

This was going to end very, very badly.

“Can’t even cast a boggart banishing spell, huh?” the man said.

“Riddikulus!” rang through the room, but it wasn’t Bowers who’d said it. It was Belch.

Bowers looked shaken. Shaken and  _ furious. _

The man’s head fell off, bouncing a few times.

The bouncing head rolled towards Mike, catching fire as it drew closer. Mike saw a dark hand inside the flames, hands shaking as he gripped his wand. He had to think of something funny, something…

Richie was suddenly ahead of him, and the flames formed into a figure, shorter than both of them.

Things happened very quickly. Mike saw the face forming in the flames, and so did Richie, because he went pale, screwed his eyes shut and cut off anything the very familiar face might say with a desperate scream of “RIDDIKULUS!”

A half second before the figure would have been recognizable to anyone but Mike and Richie, it popped like a balloon, and the force of the pop and the sheer panic in the spell threw Richie into a desk with a loud crack.

Mike ran to get him as Richie tried to get to his feet, then stumbled, puking over the floor.

“Riddikulus!” Lupin shouted behind Mike, shoving the boggart back into its chest. He knelt down beside Richie, who looked at Mike, eyes unfocused behind his glasses. “Well, that was certainly one of the most aggressive instances of this spell I’ve ever seen, Mister…?”

“Tozier,” Richie slurred. “Thankyou. ‘M a real tiger.” He saluted, stumbling against Mike.

“Could you possibly take him to Madame Pomfrey, Mr. Hanlon?” 

Mike nodded, putting an arm around Richie and guiding him out of the room. Bowers still seemed too shaken to say anything, which was a small relief, but Mike knew it wouldn’t last long.

He dragged Richie out the door and into the hallway.

“D’ya think they saw? Bowers? Y’think he…?” Richie slurred as they made their way down the halls.

“No,” Mike said. “No, it wasn’t obvious, anyway.”

“Oh, good,” Richie said. “Oh, oh  _ shit,  _ you… did you…?”

“Um,” Mike said. “It was Eddie, wasn’t it?”

“Fuck,” Richie mumbled. “Oh, fuck.”

Mike swallowed, propping Richie up against his shoulder as they walked. Richie’s legs were all over the place.

“You… Do you know… why?” Richie asked quietly.

Mike swallowed. “I have a pretty solid guess, yeah.”

“Fuck,” Richie said, a broken note in his voice. “Don’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Mike said. “Of course I don’t hate you.”

“Please don’t tell him. I know I should, but… please, please don’t… He doesn’t know I’m… Don’t tell the others that I… Fuck, Mike, what if they saw…?” His knees buckled and he fell against Mike.

“No one saw, Richie,” Mike promised. “And I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to, okay?” He knew none of their friends would care. Stan already knew, and Ben had picked it up from Stan, and Bev definitely suspected too. None of them cared one bit, but Mike didn’t think now was the time to point that out to Richie. Now, Richie needed to stay calm.

“Okay,” Richie said. “Wow, you’re blurry. Where are my glasses?”

“You’re wearing them,” Mike said.

“That’s not good,” Richie managed. “There’s many of you.” His eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp.

“Shit,” Mike hissed, heart racing. It took a lot of maneuvering of limbs, but he managed to gather Richie into his arms and carry him to the infirmary.

**

“He’ll be staying overnight,” Mike told them.

“Unbelievable,” Stan sighed, folding a copy of his notes into Richie’s bag. “You would manage to knock yourself out with a riddikulus charm.”

Richie glanced at Mike, pale as the sheet behind him, and Stan quietly decided to try to draw the conversation away from whatever Richie had seen.

“If I just smack my head into a desk every night, I won’t have to deal with Bowers anymore,” Richie slurred.

“The Gryffindor password is--” Bev started before Richie sloppily put a hand over her mouth.

“No! I’m not running from Bowers with my tail between my legs!” Richie snapped. “Snakes don’t even have tails.”

“Foxes do,” Eddie muttered. “Seriously, Richie, we all know Bowers is being a nightmare this year, why won’t you let us help you?”

“I’ve got my arrangements,” Richie huffed. “I’m  _ fine.” _

“You scared the hell out of me,” Mike said. “You were out cold when we got here.”

Richie went slightly quiet at that. “Sorry, Mike. But I really was just kidding. My roommates and I are getting the hang of sneaking past their little circus. No one in Slytherin likes Bowers much.”

“You shouldn’t be sneaking around to your own room!” Eddie snapped.

Richie winced. “Eddie. C’mon, my head is killing me.”

Eddie’s mouth snapped shut. “Do you need some more pillows?” he asked softly. “I can ask Madame Pomfrey or I can give you my robe or maybe if I--”

“Eds, please, just… sssh,” Richie mumbled.

Eddie pouted at him, eyes earnest as he sat down on the bed next to Richie’s head. “Okay okay, fine.” He was silent for all of three seconds before he asked, “What’d you see, anyway?”

“A clown,” Richie said too quickly.

Eddie opened his mouth again, and Stan quickly cut in with, “Of course he overdid it. It’s Richie. He always overdoes his jokes.”

Richie mumbled at him morosely, but he was distracted by Bill joining them with a bag of food. “Here. Your f-favorites,” he said, handing Richie a tart.

“Thanks,” Richie said. “That potion Madame Pomfrey gave me tasted like Eddie’s mom’s ass.”

“Could you shut the fuck up about my mother?!” Eddie hissed.

“Eddie, what if I die tonight?” Richie whined. “And the last thing you ever say to me is telling me to shut up.”

“You’re not going to die,” Eddie sighed, but he relented. “I really can’t believe you managed to fuck this up. This should have been your shining moment, Mr. Comedian.”

“Aw, you think I’m funny,” Richie cooed.

“I don’t. I think you make everything into a joke,” Eddie grumbled, but he patted Richie on the shoulder.

“Eddie, I am on a quest,” Richie said loudly. “Slytherin cannot win the house cup on my last year. What kind of legacy would that be, huh?”

“Uh-huh,” Eddie said. “How about you shut up and sleep before you break your brain with your holy quest.”

“If my head didn’t hurt so bad, oooh, I’d get you for teasing me,” Richie mutters.

Eddie rolled his eyes and pulled the covers up over him. “You dumb fuck.”

“Ms. Marsh, boys,” Madame Pomfrey said sharply. “He should be getting some sleep.”

“Can I stay with him, Madame Pomfrey?” Eddie said sweetly. “I’ll be quiet and let him sleep, I swear.”

She sighed. “Oh, alright. But only you, and you can take one of the empty cots, understand?”

“Yes ma’am,” Eddie said, the picture of sweetness until she turned away. “You better rest up, shithead, I’m watching you.”

Richie gagged theatrically. “Eddie, your suck-up voice is sooooo gross, I think I’m gonna puke again.”

Eddie pinched his nose. “Don’t test me, asshole.”

“Ow, ow! This is abuse! I’m already injured!”

Eddie planted a sloppy kiss on Richie’s forehead and released his nose. “Go to sleep.”

“Fine,” Richie muttered, rubbing at his nose. “Fuck you.”

He shot a surprisingly subtle look at Mike, who seemed to return it with as comforting a gaze as he could. Richie looked away, letting Eddie fret over tucking him in perfectly.

“Goodnight, Richie,” Stan said, patting his arm. “Listen to Eddie or he’ll probably kill you.”

“Probably,” Richie said. “G’night.”

Stan smiled at him, letting the others say their goodbyes before heading out. Stan nodded at Ben to go ahead, and Ben nodded, splitting off with Bev and Bill.

“Alright, what did he really see?” he asked.

Mike sighed. “I mean… you probably already know, but he asked me not to tell, and…”

Stan crossed his arms. “Mike, I’m his best friend. Just because  _ he _ thinks no one should know doesn’t mean  _ I _ shouldn’t.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “He saw Eddie.”

Stan blinked. He’d always known Richie was scared by his crush, but not that scared. Scared of someone like Bowers or Patrick Hockstetter finding out, maybe, but not scared by  _ Eddie. _ “Did it… say anything?”

“No,” Mike said. “He pretty much blew it up the moment it started looking anything like him.”

“So he knew what it’d be,” Stan muttered. “You think…” 

“He asked me not to hate him,” Mike said. “Afterwards, in the hall.”

Stan’s heart broke a little. “Hate him?”

Mike nodded. “I told him I had a pretty good guess why he’d see Eddie. And he asked me not to hate him.”

Stan swallowed hard. “He thinks we’d hate him?”

“I think so,” Mike murmured.

“Maybe we should tell him we know,” Stan murmured. “And that we’d never…” 

“I think we should give him time,” Mike said. “It’s going to scare him a lot more if it’s not his choice, right?”

Stan groaned, crossing his arms. “But in the meantime, he thinks we’d  _ hate _ him!”

“Maybe we should… just try to drop hints,” Mike said. “He knows I know. Maybe I can talk some sense into him. Try to get him to tell us himself.”

Stan glared at him. “Okay, fine. But if he doesn’t say something soon, I’m going to tell him. He deserves to know, even if he does panic at first.”

Mike nodded. “Okay.” He glanced over his shoulder. “And Bowers… Bowers was too scared to deal with the boggart.”

Stan groaned. “He’s going to be a nightmare.” He looked Mike up and down. “We should slip the Hufflepuff passwords into his bag. That way he doesn’t have to show that he’s accepting help, right?”

“You’ve got something there,” Mike said. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Stan let out a breath of relief. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> up next: richie finds places to sleep while being a dumbass through and through


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will richie ever catch a break in this fic
> 
> yes
> 
> someday

CRASH.

Eddie shrieked as a package dropped into his lap from above.

Ben cocked his head. Eddie didn’t really get owls, any more than Ben did. He’d grown up all but entirely isolated from the magical world (according to Eddie, his mother had tried her hardest to keep him from getting his letter at all, but Hogwarts didn’t take no for an answer.)

“An owl for Eddie?” Richie gasped, already halfway across the table to try to peek. “Who’s it from? A secret admirer? A mysterious uncle?”

“It’s from my mom,” Eddie said, startled.

They all stared at him.

“Your mother used an  _ owl?” _ Stan asked.

“She must have been won over by you,” Richie said. “Took one look and said, by Jove, that boring young man has quite the owl look about him, they can’t be all that dangerous, can they?”

Eddie pulled a note from the package and held it close to his chest to read it.

He went very, very quiet.

Richie’s grin faded a little. “Well? What’s the matter? She tell you I’m gonna be your new stepdad?” He winked, but he also watched Eddie closely.

“Not now, Richie,” Eddie said, choking on tears.

“Wait, I didn’t mean to…” Richie said, as Eddie shot out of his chair.

“Sorry, I just need a little while to think,” Eddie said, and raced away.

Richie watched him go, speechless. “Eds, I’m sorry!”

Eddie waved back at him as he took off down the hall.

“Should I…?” Richie asked, baffled as he looked at the rest of them. “Was that…?”

“I don’t think it was you,” Bev murmured. “Just give him a second.”

“But he was…” Richie mumbled. “I mean, you think he’s okay?”

“W-We’ll ask him in class today,” Bill promised.

Richie huffed. “Alright, fine,” he muttered. “Jeez, all weepy about a letter.” He grumbled to himself, but Ben saw the worried furrow in his brow, and he was quiet after that.

Eddie didn’t rejoin them for the rest of lunch, but he did race into Charms a few seconds late.

Flitwick gave him a severe look, but Eddie’s mumbled, “Sorry,” as he sat down and his red-rimmed eyes from crying clearly were enough to keep him from chiding Eddie.

Ben waited for the class to get into full swing, then leaned in. “You okay?” he whispered.

Eddie nodded, sniffling slightly.

Ben grimaced, unconvinced, but for the time being he merely reached over and squeezed Eddie’s arm. Eddie swallowed hard, wiping at his eyes.

He still looked queasy as the class ended, and Bill leaned over as they were packing up. “D-Do you n-need to…”

“I need to stay to talk to Professor Flitwick,” Eddie said. “Go on to the Common Room without me, okay?”

“Eddie, you know you can--?” Bev started, but Eddie cut her off with a vigorous nod.

“I’ll be fine,” Eddie said. “Just go on.”

They all exchanged glances, but eventually Stan murmured, “Alright.”

Eddie nodded at them again, then all but lept over his desk to run to Professor Flitwick.

“That’s weird,” Stan mumbled.

“You don’t think his mom found a way to pull him out of school?” Ben asked worriedly.

“N-No way,” Bill said. “Eddie would never allow it.”

He frowned at Eddie one more time, but he ushered them all out.

**

Richie had been jittery all day. He got the feeling that even nice old Mike was going to smack him down if he didn’t stop bouncing in class, but he couldn’t help it. Eddie had been in  _ distress _ and Richie had no clue why.

What if his mother had said something terrible to him? What if she was taking him back home somehow? What if she’d  _ died? _

The moment the class was over, Richie was cramming his notes back into his bag and making a break for the door, clattering against some of the desks.

Hockstetter sniggered at him, shoving him into another, but Richie didn’t care. Mike helped him up so he could hurry out the door.

“You think the others found out what’s with Eddie?” Richie blurted. “You think he’s okay? What if he just skipped class? What if he ran away?”

“Funnily enough, you kind of sound like Eddie right now,” Mike said, smiling softly.

“Don’t smile at me, mister!” Richie shouted. “Our dear Eds is in trouble!”

“Richie,” Mike said. “I’m sure it’s fine. His mom probably said something that got under his skin, but he’ll shake it off. He always does. He’s strong.”

“I know that!” Richie blurted. Of  _ course _ he knew. “But just because he’s strong doesn’t mean he doesn’t need…” 

He looked at Mike and his raised eyebrow.

A sudden jolt ran through him.

Mike  _ knew. _ He’d almost forgotten in his worry over Eddie, but Mike  _ knew _ exactly why he was so jittery. God, he knew all the reasons why Richie was all over Eddie. What if he thought it was weird? Or overbearing? Or…? “I’d be worried about any of you,” Richie said. “Including Bev!”

Mike cocked his head, then sighed when he realized what Richie meant. He put his hands on Richie’s shoulders. “Richie,” he said. “You know I don’t care. Eddie’s special to you, that’s fine.”

Richie wanted to curl up and crumble into dust. It seemed like cheating for Mike to be so solid in his corner. To still be willing to touch him.

“But I…” Richie managed, not sure what it was he wanted to say, before he stopped, hearing a soft sobbing. “Do you hear that?”

Mike frowned, following his eyes to try to find the source of the sound. “Yeah, I do,” he murmured.

They both ran to poke their heads around the corner. There was Eddie, curled up in a window, sobbing his little heart out.

“Um,” Richie said. “Think you could let me handle this?”

Mike nodded. “Let me know if either of you needs anything?”

Richie saluted him, waving him away.

He looked around for anyone else, then quickly shifted to fox form to scamper over and leap into the window under Eddie’s elbow.

Eddie screamed, then huffed at him, brows furrowed in anger as Richie wormed his way under his arm, tail wagging furiously. “Why’d you scare me like that, you dick?”

Richie bounced into his lap, then rolled over, wriggling playfully.

Eddie’s brow furrowed even deeper, cheeks puffing out with annoyance, but he stopped crying, reaching under Richie’s front legs to lift him up. “Dumb little fox,” Eddie muttered, holding him tight.

Richie wriggled and yipped, pedalling with his paws.

Eddie found him delightful as a fox. Richie knew this for a fact, because Eddie glowered at him in a very specific way whenever he was like this.

Eddie sniffled, taking shaky breaths as he watched Richie helplessly struggle for purchase, nipping playfully at Eddie’s hands. “What do you have to say for yourself?” 

He put Richie down, and Richie pounced on him again to lick away a few tears from his cheek.

“Gross!” Eddie said, shoving him off, and Richie shifted back as he rolled off Eddie’s lap, beaming at Eddie. “Don’t lick me.”

“They’re kisses, Eds!” Richie cried. “They’re to make you feel better!”

He sat up, arranging his limbs so they could sit across from each other. “You wanna talk about it?” he asked.

“My mom sent me my dad’s watch,” Eddie said. “She said she was going to give it to me for my 18th birthday, but he would have wanted me to have it for my last year.”

“Oh,” Richie said.

Eddie didn’t often talk about his father. He barely remembered him, he’d told them all at some point. But he’d been a kind, smiley man, who had made his mother happy and calm. Everything had gone wrong after his father died, and now Eddie was left with one dead parent and one who wanted to smother him.

“My mom said it was charmed,” Eddie said. “She didn’t know what the charm did, and it stopped working after he died. I asked Professor Flitwick about it, but he said the charm was probably a very personal creation and he doesn’t know either. And he couldn’t fix it.”

“Want me to try?” Richie asked. “Or at least give it a new one?”

Eddie squinted at him, mildly suspicious. “No jokes,” he warned. “This is important to me.”

Richie nodded. “Of course not. I’m not  _ totally _ stupid.”

“Really? You look it,” Eddie teased, handing over the watch without any further protest.

Richie tried to contain his excitement. Eddie  _ trusted _ him.

He looked down at the watch - a pocket watch, round and brass, with a small latch to open it. He listened to it for a moment, but it was silent. No ticking. He looked back at Eddie, watching him with those big brown eyes. 

“Don’t look,” Richie protested.

“What?” Eddie complained. “No way! You’ve never shied away from attention before!”

“But this is  _ important,”  _ Richie said loftily. “I need to focus!”

“Ugh, fine,” Eddie said, and covered his eyes.

Richie squinted at the watch, trying to feel for the magic under the surface. He could get a strange, indescribable feel for it, and he got out his want, carefully prodding the watch and trying to tug that charm back to life.

He did his best, then listened to it again. No ticking. He opened it. The hands stayed motionless.

He huffed.

“What?” Eddie said, peeking at him through his fingers.

“One  _ second,” _ Richie said. “Jeez.”

“Fine, fine,” Eddie muttered, closing his fingers. “I swear to God, if you break it even more…”

“I  _ won’t,” _ Richie insisted, even though he was pretty sure Eddie was just griping. If he really thought Richie would break it, he’d be much more frantic. Richie closed it and pointed his wand at it again, this time giving it a charm of his own.

This one definitely worked.

“There,” he said, handing it back to Eddie. “It’s not the same charm, but it’s… Well. I hope you like it?”

Eddie took the watch back warily, then opened it.

A small galaxy swirled inside the cover, changing colors as it spun.

“It’s kind of useless as a watch,” Richie said. “I don’t know anything about clockwork. But maybe--” 

He didn’t finish, because Eddie was throwing himself at Richie, wrapping his arms around Richie’s neck and squeezing.

He was warm and he smelled nice, Richie thought. He smelled less like soap and antiseptic lately - he’d stopped with the hand sanitizer in the past two years, slowly, like someone trying to quit smoking. Now he just smelled very Eddie, a mix of something like lemon and mint and a trace of bobcat musk.

Richie wanted to breathe him in.

“Thanks,” Edde said, leaning back and shaking off the last of his tears.

“No problem, Spaghetti,” Richie murmured. “Wanna just sit here a while?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said.

“Cool,” Richie murmured, shifting into a fox to bounce into his lap again.

**

The downside to spending the rest of the evening bouncing around with Eddie as a fox, making him smile and getting picked up and squeezed into submission was that Richie had missed the safe window for getting back into his room.

The Bowers gang didn’t appear to be hanging around in the corridors, so he quickly slipped inside.

He was nearly to the stairs, safety in sight, when he heard an unmistakable voice.

“Where ya going, Tozier?”

“Shit,” he hissed. He turned around to see Henry Bowers and Patrick Hockstetter grinning at him like a piece of dead meat. “Hey guys.”

At least it wasn’t the whole gang. Just the two most sadistic members.

Dammit, were they taking baths in shifts just to make sure no one got past them without a world of pain?

“Haven’t seen you around much,” Patrick said.

“Your moms have been keeping me real busy,” Richie replied, doing the mental math about how much room he had to bolt and hope the charms they’d put on their room would keep him safe from a Bowers on a mission.

“Y’know,” Bowers said. “It’s our last year.”

“Wow, you can count,” Richie drawled. One long leap over the nearest armchair and he could probably make it.

“It’s important to keep learning even in your final year, you know?” Patrick added, grinning. “We thought we’d practice something new this year.”

“You have fun with that,” Richie said, and dove.

_ “Imperio!” _ someone shouted, and things went slightly fuzzy.

_ Ah, _ Richie thought, in an odd, detached way.  _ This is very bad. _

**

Eddie nearly spit out the bite of the breakfast muffin he’d just shoved into his mouth.

“What the  _ fuck,”  _ he blurted.

Richie pushed wet hair out of his face, soggy cloak dripping putrid water all over everything, looking as thoroughly miserable as any one person could.

He opened his mouth to point at his tongue, which had been twisted into a knot, and made a frustrated noise.

“Shit,” Stan said, leaping up to get his wand. “Hold still.” 

“Why do you smell so bad?” Eddie asked.

“And where are your glasses?” Bev added.

Richie extended a fist full of several pieces of what were once glasses.

He was lucky he’d even bumbled his way over to them, frankly.

Stan waved his wand, and Richie yelped as his tongue unwravelled.

Eddie got out a handkerchief and gingerly held it out for the pieces of Richie’s glasses, dripping with the same smelly water as the rest of him.

“Ugh,” Eddie said, holding the pieces at arm’s length while he charmed them back into a pair of glasses.

“What’d they do to you?” Mike asked, all of them leaning in to check for additional curses.

“P-P-P…” Richie managed, making a very cross face over the difficulty getting the noise out.

Bill nodded, sympathetic. “Don’t t-try to force it.”

“P-Puking t-t-toilets,” Richie spat out.

“Urg!” Eddie cried, dropping Richie’s glasses in a hurry to jerk away. “Gross!” The glasses shattered again.

Richie sighed and picked up the broken glasses, giving Eddie a dirty look that said,  _ Whenever my tongue gets back into business, I’m gonna tease the living hell out of you, _ and Eddie’s sympathy caught up with his disgust. “Sorry. Come here.”

He repaired the glasses again.

“You need a bath,” Eddie said. “I know how to get into the prefects bathroom.”

“You’ll be late to Potions,” Ben warned.

“We’ll live,” Eddie said. He reached to tug Richie along, but thought better of it, instead hurriedly waving him on.

“Have fun,” Bev offered. “We’ll cover for you.”

“L-l-l-l-like Sn-Snuh…” Richie tried.

“Like Snape will care,” Eddie griped for him.

Richie nodded, appreciative, and let Eddie wave him down the hallway to the bathroom.

“H-Hah-How d--” Richie stammered as Eddie helped him into the bathroom.

“I made deals,” Eddie said. “They have better soap and hotter water. So I asked nicely.”

Richie nodded sagely.

“Alright, strip,” Eddie said, enjoying the fact that Richie couldn’t make a similar joke in response. A small blush dusted his freckled cheeks, and Eddie grinned.

Richie peeled off his sopping wet clothes with a horrible slurping sound.

“Put them in the sink, I’ll clean them,” Eddie said, and Richie obeyed quietly. “You’re so well behaved when you can’t talk, I could get used to it.”

Richie gave him a glare that was only half joking.

“I don’t mean that,” Eddie said softly. “I’d wring Bowers’ neck for doing this shit to you if I could.”

Richie grinned at that, pantomiming wringing a neck and then making an odd squawking noise and acting cartoonishly dead.

“Yeah, he would totally look like a dead idiot,” Eddie laughed. “Go on, wash off, you  _ stink.” _

Richie laughed, getting into the tub. He’d left his underwear on, but Eddie supposed it would have to do.

He helped Richie turn on the jets to make a nice bubbly bath, then returned to Richie’s clothes to boil them in hot water before charming them clean. Somehow, the two-fold cleaning made up for how awful they’d smelled.

He pulled them out and dried them with a charm.

“Wash your hair too, jerkwad,” he told Richie, chancing the possibility of getting some of that gross water on his hands to shove Richie under the surface.

Richie came back up, spluttering, and stuck his tongue out at Eddie.

Eddie snorted at him, shoving him under again, this time keeping his hands on his head so when he bobbed back up he could scrub the soap into Richie’s scalp. “There,” he said. “Squeaky clean. Now dry off, quick, and let’s get to class.”

Richie nodded, drying himself off. He was all too good at non-verbal casting - maybe for exactly this reason. He pulled his clothes on, and they rushed to class.

They were only five minutes late, but that was more than enough.

Snape peered down at them.

“Late on the first day of class, I see,” he said sharply.

Richie glowered at him, but he stayed silent.

“Sorry, sir,” Eddie said. “It was an accident.”

“I see,” Snape said, shooting a look at Richie. “I see at least you’ve managed to keep your tongue in cheek this year.”

Richie glared like he hoped Snape would burst into flames like he had two years ago.

The Bowers gang all sniggered under their breaths, watching Richie struggle.

“Do you want to spend your year in detention again, Mr. Tozier?” Snape asked.

“N-No s-s-sir,” Richie said, as strong as he could manage.

Eddie resisted the urge to launch himself at Bowers and knock his teeth out for the way he laughed.

“I see you’re spending a bit too much time with Mr. Denbrough,” Snape said coolly.

Richie didn’t answer, gritting his teeth.

_ He’s obviously been cursed, you gigantic tit, _ Eddie wanted to say, but it would only land them both in detention.

Snape turned his back to them. “Ten points from Gryffindor. Don’t be late again.”

Eddie let out and angry breath and tugged Richie over to sit with Bill and Bev. “I hate him,” Eddie muttered under his breath.

“Dickhead,” Bev agreed.

“As I was saying,” Snape said, directing the words like a barb at Richie and Eddie.

Eddie rolled his eyes. There wasn’t much he could have gotten to in five minutes.

“We’ll be brewing Amortentia this semester,” Snape continued. “Mr. Tozier, what is the purpose of Amortentia?”

The entire Bowers gang turned to look at Richie, giggling.

Richie blanched. Eddie saw his jaw work as he tried to take stock of how well his tongue was going to handle an answer, and how many words he’d have to choke out under Bowers’ cruel gaze before he’d be let off the hook.

“It’s the most powerful love potion ever to exist,” Eddie blurted out. “It can’t manufacture true love but it can cause powerful obsession, and can be used indefinitely if it’s administered frequently enough. It’s known for having a pearly sheen, spiralling steam and having the scent of whatever you love most, and the ingredients are--”

“That’s quite enough, Mr. Kaspbrak,” Snape bit out. Eddie took a long breath, winded from having blurted all of that out in one go. “Ten points from Gryffindor.”

Richie threw up his hands in rage, but Eddie dragged them back down.

“However, Mr. Kaspbrak, while inserting himself into conversations not intended for him, is correct,” Snape said.

The Bowers gang looked away, leaving Richie to slowly relax.

“You’ll find the ingredients in your textbooks on page 72,” Snape said. “You may work in groups.”

With that, he sat back down at his desk.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “He’s a jerk.”

“Th-thanks,” Richie said, grinning at him. “M-My h-he-hero.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Just start chopping some peppermint.”

Richie saluted him very seriously and got to work.

Eddie, of course, did most of the work. He’d always liked Potions. There was a list of rules to work through, but also enough room for creativity to make it his own. It was an unfortunate coincidence that his best subject also came with the worst teacher, but at least it was funny to watch Richie annoy Snape all the time. 

He’d been the first Slytherin in their year to get points docked, before Snape had realized that there was no point to it. Then it had become detention, which again, meant Snape simply had to spend more time with Richie. Eddie could only figure he didn’t think it was worth the effort to expel him, and that was the only thing keeping Richie in school.

It was a shame he couldn’t be kicked out of Slytherin and into Ravenclaw. He’d been right on the boundary, Eddie knew, and then he’d be safe and sound with Stanley and Ben and Eddie wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not he was spending his whole night in a toilet.

He leaned forward and sniffed the potion. He groaned. “We’ve fucked it up somehow.”

“What?” Bev asked. “It’s pearly and has spiralling steam, like you said.”

“But it doesn’t smell like anything,” Eddie said.

Bev, Bill and Richie all leaned forward at once to sniff it, nearly knocking heads.

“Yes it does,” Bev said. “Raspberries, vanilla and Ben’s aftershave.” 

“Ink, parchment,” Bill said. “And those l-little cakes Georgie makes.”

Richie cooed. “S-So cute,” he teased. His tongue seemed to be working again, for the most part. “I sm-smell Ed-Ed…” His voice cracked, and Eddie blinked at him for a moment, before Richie choked out, “Eddiesmom!” in a rush.

Eddie grinned. “Sorry, didn’t catch that last part,” he teased, poking Richie in the side. “Did you say you smelled me?”

“No,” Richie said, blushing pink. 

“Nono,” Eddie said, pinching his cheek. “I hear you loud and clear. Didn’t know you were so serious about me.”

Richie slapped away his hand.

“I’m cr-crippled Eds,” Richie said, voice still cracking. “Don’t be mean.”

He actually looked slightly hurt for a moment before turning it into a theatrical pout. Bev and Bill both gave Eddie a small look as if to tell him to dial it down. They were right. Maybe it wasn’t very nice to tease him for being unable speak when the cause of it was sitting right behind him.

“Sorry, sorry,” Eddie said. He leaned in to smell it again. “I guess maybe I smell something.”

“What?” Richie asked, resting his chin on his hands.

“Your mom,” Eddie said automatically. He tried to lean in further. “I seriously don’t know. It’s kinda familiar, but…”

“Knew you were heartless,” Richie said. His voice was slightly slurred but he sounded almost back to normal.

“Fuck off,” Eddie said. “You didn’t even seriously tell me what you smelled!”

“Your sweet, sweet mother,” Richie replied.

“Alright, fine, don’t tell me,” Eddie said, rolling his eyes. “Asshole.”

Eddie reached to fill a vial with their potion when something exploded at another desk and Patrick Hockstetter cackled. Richie jumped, elbow colliding with Eddie’s hand, and the potion sloshed all over his arm.

Eddie sighed and leaned in to pat him dry. At least the scent was a little stronger exposed to the air, but Eddie still couldn’t place it. “Good job, dickhead,” he said, without much bite. “Now you smell like love potion.”

“Thank God St-Stan’s not here,” Bill mumbled.

“I don’t think he’d be that mad at Richie,” Eddie said.

Bill looked at him like he was an idiot, but Eddie was distracted by Richie pushing his nose into his elbow and sniffing loudly. “Oh, yeah, smells like your mom’s vag--!” he said, before Eddie knocked him off his seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do they spend the whole day arguing about love potion and make stan question every facet of his existence? up to you
> 
> but like... yeah


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long guys, i've been sitting on two whole chapters for a WHILE but i wasn't sure i liked the pacing and i didn't know how to fix it so i just kinda. like. gave up on fixing it and now this is just the world we live in. enjoy.

There had to be someplace safe to sleep.

Someplace that didn’t make his friends worry and alert a fourth of the school to the fact that he was scared to sleep in his own room. As far as houses went, Hufflepuffs were the least likely to betray him, but they also gossiped. And if the news that he was running scared and cowering in the Hufflepuff common room got back to Slytherin, and then to Bowers… 

Then Richie was _ dead. _

He heard a cough and ducked into the corner to avoid Filch and Mrs. Norris. 

Still, that Hufflepuff password was sitting in his pocket…

Or he could sleep under Ben’s bed again, in the little hideout Ben had built for Richie’s fox form…

“I just need a safe, cozy place to sleep,” he whined into nothing. “Is that too much to ask?”

Between one step and the next, he was suddenly beside a door that hadn’t been there before.

“Huh,” he said.

The castle was hardly benevolent. There had been a troll in the dungeons, a basilisk in the walls, all manner of creatures in the woods… A mysterious door appearing to a desperate, very, very tired student all on their lonesome could be a serious problem.

But Richie hadn’t slept properly in…

… a while.

He sighed and opened the door, wand at the ready, eyes squeezed shut.

There was nothing but a small bedroom on the other side.

It was very much like Ben’s little alcove under his bed, full of blankets and large pillows, but human sized, full of bright yellows and golds and little splashes of red that reminded Richie of Eddie’s scarves.

“Alright, room, I’ll bite,” he muttered. “But only because I’m pretty sure you’re safer than Bowers trying to learn how to use a Cruciatus Curse.”

**

Eddie laid in his bed, listening to Bill mumble to himself about his Transfiguration homework.

He’d been watching the galaxy in his pocketwatch for nearly an hour. Richie’s charms always managed to captivate. He’d given Georgie at least a hundred origami animals that Bill had folded and Richie had charmed to move around. Bev had a pendant that flickered with cool flames, Ben’s idea, and his gift to her for last Valentine’s day. All of Stan’s books had little birds that swooped from one page to the next when he turned a page. Mike had a snow globe with a fuzzy little yak bounding around in it, always happy to see him. Eddie had at least a million little trinkets charmed into flowers that wouldn’t set off his allergies.

But this felt extra special. So many stars arranged perfectly inside his father’s watch. This had been a gift given to him on the heels of telling Richie it was  _ important, _ which probably meant that Richie had given him a charm that felt  _ important. _

The galaxy brightened a little, and Eddie watched it, enraptured.

The hands moved, and Eddie sat up with a yelp.

Bill looked up. “Wh-what?” 

“No!” Eddie yelled, pulling the pocketwatch away before Bill could look. This was  _ his,  _ his from his father and from Richie, and he didn’t want to share a single second of it.

“Okay, okay,” Bill said, putting his hands up. “S-Sorry.”

Eddie waited until he looked away, then took a closer look. 5:23. There was no seconds hand on the watch, nor was there any way to set the time that Eddie could see.

“Hey, Bill, what time is it?”

“About h-half past ten?” Bill offered.

The hands moved again, this time to precisely midnight.

“Huh,” Eddie murmured, waiting for another change, but there was nothing.

Bill glanced at him again. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, closing the watch. “I’m fine.”

**

Richie yawned loudly.

Stan sighed. “Richie, when’d you go to sleep?”

“Not late!” Richie whined. “I got up to my room in a timely fashion this time. Bowers must have still been out, eating small children and stuff, as he does.”

“Before or after eleven?” Eddie asked.

“Oh, is eleven late, grandmama?” Richie griped. “Come on, before midnight is still fucking  _ early.” _

“Well, you…” Eddie said, blushing. Bev tried not to read into it, but her interest was piqued. “You’ve been sleeping way too little lately! You spent nearly an entire night in a toilet.”

“Awww, are you worried?” Richie teased. “Cute lil Spaghetti is worrying about me…”

“Just answer the question,” Eddie grumbled.

“Yeah, probably,” Richie said, shrugging. “Couldn’t have been much later than ten.”

Eddie chewed on his lip.

“What, is that past my bedtime, Dr. K?” Richie said, poking Eddie in the cheek.

“No,” Eddie said. “Just wondering if this is gonna be a regular thing or if you’re going to be up until three or four in the morning dodging Bowers every night.”

“I’ll be  _ fine,” _ Richie groaned. “I think I’ve got their movements charted, Cap’n!”

“Fine, whatever,” Eddie said. “See if I worry about you anymore.”

“I knew it!” Richie crowed, laughing.

Bev tried to be subtle about following Eddie’s hands as he pulled his bag into his lap and pretended to look for a notebook, then furrowed his brow, thinking something to himself.

“Hey, Rich,” Eddie said, looking up at Richie, only occasionally glancing down at whatever he’d found in his bag.

“Yes?” Richie said, holding Eddie’s eyes as he took a sip of juice.

“You know I think you’re funny, right?” Eddie said.

Richie choked.

Eddie glanced at the thing in his bag, then quickly let it drop so both his hands were visible, dropping the bag to his side.

Richie wheezed, trying to pull in a breath of air. “Christ, Eds, you trying to kill me?”

“Don’t call me Eds,” Eddie said, looking very excited about something.

Bev smirked to herself, setting aside the observation for later.

For now, it was time for class. “Alright, Tozier, you ready to go suck up to Trelawney for another year?” she asked.

“Hell _ yeah _ I am!” Richie shouted. “Ooh, man, I’m so gonna foresee my own death this year, she’s gonna  _ love  _ it.”

Eddie sighed. “You’re so fucking stupid.”

“Good l-luck,” Bill said, flopping against Mike and putting his feet up on his bag.

Richie blew a raspberry at him. “Just you watch!”

**

“Make way for the favorite student!” Richie yelled, standing triumphantly on the table.

“Oh, are you finally dying?” Stan asked, not looking up from his homework.

“Even better!” Richie crowed. “I have forseen great suffering for myself!”

“Happy for you,” Stan said. “But you know there’s some 3rd year who literally saw the Grim in his tea leaves, right?”

“What?” Richie whined. “Seriously? Fuckin’ 3rd years.”

He slammed down into a seat next to Stan.

Eddie glanced up at him. He’d spent most of the day waiting to be alone long enough to note down what he suspected about the watch and its times. “You’re not even a little worried about Richie foreseeing his own suffering?”

“There are some people who actually have a talent for divination, sure,” Stan said. “And  _ sometimes _ they make accurate predictions. But it’s generally random and you generally know it. Whatever Richie comes up with in Divination while fucking around with Bev is just bullshit.”

Eddie grumbled at him, but he had to admit, he didn’t particularly believe that Richie had actually seen the future.

“I have a talent for divination. Last semester I predicted I would get an EE on our final, and I did,” Richie said.

“That’s only b-because you swooned over h-how supposedly h-horrifying the future would be,” Bill said.

“Yes, and she  _ loved  _ it! She had the class fan me on the fainting couch while I moaned about the horrors I’d seen,” Richie said. “But this is different! This time it really did show me great suffering. I swear!”

“And yet it means exactly as much,” Stan said dryly.

“C’mon,” Richie said. “Let me tell your futures, if only to cheer me up before my demise.”

“No thanks,” Stan said.

“Mikey?” Richie asked, swinging his feet.

“I can’t, I promised Georgie we’d play checkers,” Mike said.

Bill smiled at him. “Thanks, Mike. Tell him w-we’ll hang out on the weekend, okay?”

Mike nodded, winking at him as he went.

“C’mon, Ben, you’ll humor me, right?” Richie asked. 

Ben sighed. “Okay, okay,” he said. “What do you need me to do?”

Richie pulled out a handful of rune tiles. “Think about the next year, then blow,” he said, holding out his hands.

Ben rolled his eyes, but he leaned forward to blow on the tiles. 

Richie cupped them in his hands, then threw them, clattering across the table.

Stan sighed as a few hit his arm.

“Hm,” Richie said, chewing at his lip. “Another growth spurt. At this rate, Haystack, you’ll be as tall as me!”

He pulled the tiles back in, collecting them into his hands.

“I’d believe it,” Bev said. “He’s been growing like a weed since last year, why not?”

“Oh, great, now you’ll use Ben’s continually growing as proof,” Stan said. “He was already growing!”

“So? Alright, come on Eds, blow me,” Richie said, shoving his hands in Eddie’s face.

Eddie groaned. He didn’t particularly want to play this game. He wanted to sneak off to figure out what the hell was up with the watch. But if he said so, everyone would ask, and maybe Richie knew enough to figure it out, and Eddie was rather enjoying the thought of keeping this little secret in a small corner of his heart for at least a while longer.

But he tried to think of the next year. Soon they’d have trips to Hogsmeade, and NEWTS, and…

He blew on the tiles, then watched them drop.

Richie froze.

“What?” Eddie said. 

“You’re not gonna like it,” Richie said quietly.

“What is it?” Eddie asked, feeling breathless.

“It’s a stepfather,” Richie said. 

_ “What?” _

“Yeah,” Richie said very seriously. “Me.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Eddie said. “You suck. Stan’s right, you’re full of bullshit.”

Richie laughed, quickly grabbing the tiles. “Alright, fine,” he said. “But you know what’s  _ not _ bullshit?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Things that don’t come out of your mouth?”

“Amortentia,” Richie said.

“Excuse me?” Eddie asked.

“C’mon, it’s been killing me,” Richie said. “How can you not know what it smells like?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie said, bewildered by the sudden shift in topics.

“What if it’s, like, the smell of your soulmate,” Richie said, putting his chin in his hands. “Like, you’ve already met them, but you don’t even know it.”

“That’s not how Amortentia works,” Eddie replied.

“How do you know? You know a lot about  _ soulmates?” _ Richie asked.

“Richie, what are you doing?” Bev asked tiredly.

“I’m just saying,” Richie said, shaking Eddie. “We could be on a hunt for our little Eddie’s happiness!”

“Stop,” Bev said, laughing softly. “You’re being an idiot.”

“When even Bev thinks so, it’s probably right,” Eddie said. “Besides, I don’t know the first thing about how to start looking for a  _ smell.” _

“Doesn’t it smell like  _ anything  _ familiar?” Richie asked.

“I don’t know! If I knew I’d know!”

“Wow, what a genius assessment,” Richie jabbed. “C’mon, it doesn’t remind you of something?”

“Uh, waking up in the morning?” Eddie tried. “That moment right after a shower where your clothes are still a little sticky against your skin?”

“What? Those aren’t smells,” Richie replied.

“I don’t know! That’s the only way I can identify smells!” Eddie complained. “And anyway. I don’t really care what it smells like.”

“But Eddie, the  _ romance,” _ Richie whined.

“I’m not going to find my soulmate through Amortentia,” Eddie said. “And besides, since when are you a romantic? You’re probably just looking for a way to make me smell a bunch of weird shit.”

“Well, yes,” Richie said. “But it’ll be worth it!”

Eddie rolled his eyes. There was something oddly frantic about Richie at the moment, but Eddie couldn’t figure out why, so he swung his legs over his seat so he could stand. “Well, you’re being weird and I’m not going to play along with whatever you’ve got in mind. I’m going,” he said. “I have homework to do and I want to do it in peace and quiet.” He shoved at Richie playfully, then took off.

Richie didn’t call after him, which was worrisome. Eddie took a look at the watch - 2:15 now - and tried to make note of it in case it showed up again. Whatever these times were, they were connected to Richie, that was he was sure of, but there was so little to go on.

He crammed it back into his pocket and hurried up to the common room to try to scribble down what he knew. It had to be something about how Richie was doing, but what was that? Was he overwhelmed by getting too invested in divination? Frustrated that Eddie couldn’t place a smell that was supposed to be familiar? 

Eddie pulled out a piece of parchment and started scribbling down times. His watch had shown midnight right when Richie had fallen asleep, which was the only thing Eddie could scrawl down for sure. When he’d told Richie he was funny, it had shown 11:46, which meant that had to be either surprise, joy or doubt. For 2:15 and 5:23, there were only vague conjectures and guesses.

Peace and quiet lasted for a full thirty minutes before Bev ambushed him leaping into the nook he was occupying with him. He clutched the parchment to his chest quickly. He didn’t want her to see. It was silly - she was probably Richie’s best friend, other than maybe Stan, and it probably wasn’t anything new to her.

But if he was right, then he had a little window into Richie’s heart that he could keep in his pocket, and that was exciting. He’d never entirely gotten Richie, as familiar as he was. And it was a gift to Eddie, more special than Richie’s other charms.  _ Important. _

“Why’d you mess with Richie this morning?” she asked.

“I was testing a theory and I needed evidence, but it’s  _ not _ a theory I want to share,” Eddie blurted. She was far too observant. He thought he’d hidden his glance at the pocketwatch well, but apparently she’d put it together.

She raised a brow.

“I’m serious!” Eddie complained. “This is personal and emotionally  _ complicated _ and I don’t want to share. Not with anyone.”

“I won’t blab,” she promised. “Don’t worry.”

He eyed her suspiciously.

“So you’re taking notes on this theory, huh?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, even more suspicious.

“You know it’s only a matter of time before Richie notices you being all secretive about that and tries to snag it to be nosy, right?” Bev said, trying to keep a straight face. “I mean, he’ll give it back. But is it secret enough for him not to get a clue at first glance?”

Eddie groaned. He was going to be making a list of times with potential emotions right after Richie had gifted him a watch. Richie was too smart not to at least suspect. “No.”

“You want some encoder quills?” she asked.

Eddie squinted at her. “Which are…?”

“Quills that automatically put everything you write in code. You just write your name with them first and then you’re the only one who can read what you write with it,” Bev said.

Eddie mulled it over. “Richie could undo something like that in minutes.”

“Well yeah,” Bev said. “But he won’t. That’s too far to go to tease someone. He doesn’t like to be mean.”

“I know that,” Eddie snapped. Of course he knew that. She merely raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed. “Fine, yes. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she said. “And you know, don’t let Richie get all weird about the Amortentia shit. You’ll figure it out.”

“Why do I need to figure it out?” Eddie asked. “It’s just a smell.”

“And probably  _ really  _ obvious,” Bev said. “You’ll be kicking yourself when you think of it, I bet.”

Eddie cocked his head at her. She had an odd air right now too. “Okay? Did Richie say something to you about it?”

“He didn’t,” she said. “I just think that it’s… probably something  _ very _ familiar. But don’t worry about it.” She pulled a quill out of her clock pocket and handed it to him, then patted him on the knee as she left, ignoring his confused stare at her back.

“It’s probably just my laundry detergent or something!” Eddie called after her. “I like clean clothes!”

She continued to ignore him.

**

“Is this it?” Richie asked.

“Stoooop,” Eddie moaned. “I don’t  _ know. _ Yes? Maybe? It smells more like pumpkin than the Amortentia.”

“That’s because it’s pumpkin,” Richie said. “Come on, you’ve said yes to, like, almost everything except for peppermint and cinnamon!”

“It’s probably my clothes,” Eddie said. “I keep telling you.”

“Eddie,” Richie said. “The thing you love most can’t be laundry detergent.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because it can’t be!”

“Fuck off!”

“This is unbearable,” Stan muttered. “It’s been longer than a week, Richie, stop making him smell new things!”

“What?” Richie whined. “I want to help our Eddie-kins find his one true love!”

“Richie,” Mike chided. “Come on, give it a rest.”

Richie huffed at him, but went quiet.

Stan gave him a tired look.

They knew something, and Bill wondered if it was what he also suspected. He’d seen Richie’s look of terror when he’d accidentally said he’d smelled Eddie, even if he had been trying to joke. And he also knew that the common thread between everything Eddie had been forced to smell, other than Eddie’s clothes always being close at hand, was, in fact, Richie’s hand.

The idea that Richie might have told Mike and Stan but not him left him with a somber mixture of pride and jealousy. Sure, Mike was calm and comforting, and Stan had befriended Richie first, but Richie had been the first person Bill had told about being a werewolf, despite knowing Richie was scared of them, and Bill found himself just a little put out by the thought that Richie might not have felt as comfortable with him as he did them.

He took a deep breath and tried not to let it get to him. Really, it was Richie’s decision to tell who he wanted about whatever he wanted.

Richie and Eddie continued bickering away, and Stan rubbed at his temple.

“Hey, Richie,” came a voice. Daisy Hart, Slytherin Prefect and one of the few Slytherins in Richie’s year that Bill actually kind of liked, sat down next to them.

“Oh, hi Daisy,” Richie said. “Let me guess, Bowers did something new and horrible?”

“Yeah,” Daisy said. “I’ve been consoling second years all morning.”

Richie hissed in sympathy.

“Do you still have that pet owl that can’t deliver any of your mail?” she asked, a small smile playing at her lips.

“Hooty McHooty-face?” Richie said brightly.

Hooty McHooty-face, otherwise known as Stan, narrowed his eyes at Richie. “He’s had better days.”

“Well, however he’s doing,” Daisy said, “a tip: don’t bring him anywhere near the common room. Bowers has been killing people’s pets.”

“Can’t you get him expelled for that?” Bev asked.

“Snape doesn’t care about pets,” Daisy snorted. “We  _ think _ he might be using the Cruciatus Curse, which  _ might _ do it, if anyone saw him. But even so, Bowers Sr is an Auror and Hockstetter’s parents are in the Ministry, so no one wants the headache of trying to expel them both. And frankly, they’re too good at finding who told on them for anyone to risk it. Even if they are using Unforgivables. Which we can’t prove.”

Richie winced. “Well, worry not, Hooty is perfectly safe.”

Stan rolled his eyes.

“Good. Your roommates might warn you about it too, but I didn’t want to take the risk. They’re pretty miffed about you disappearing and leaving them to do their own homework.”

They all turned to stare at him with varying degrees of horror and disapproval, but Richie seemed to be unaware.

“Ms. Hart,” Richie gasped. “I have never aided nor abetted in cheating in my life.”

“Richie,” Daisy said. “We’re in Slytherin. Be real. And keep that big bird of yours out of Bowers’ way. He’s a very charming owl and I can’t have any more pet funerals without crying as well.”

Richie chuckled, waving and letting her leave before turning back to them. “You hear that, Stan? She thinks you’re charming. Maybe you have a chance!”

“Richie, you dumb fuck,” Stan replied, undeterred, _ “where _ have you been sleeping?”

**

“I swear it’s here usually,” Richie said. “I just… have to walk past a few times.”

“Just admit you don’t have a safe place to sleep,” Stan said, arms crossed. He trusted Richie with a lot of things. His own wellbeing was not one of them. “We’ll keep you in Ravenclaw somehow.”

“Stanley! I’m not lying!” Richie whined. “I swear!”

“We’ll rotate,” Bev said. “I can sneak you in in my bag and you can stay under Eddie’s bed, and Mike doesn’t have to tell the other Hufflepuffs about you.”

“Besides, they know Bowers is crazy, even for a Slytherin,” Mike said. “We’ll make sure no one tells about you. No one can say no to Georgie.”

“It was here!” Richie protested, staring at the wall. “Please just give me a door, room. Please?”

There was suddenly a door in front of them.

“Told you!” Richie said, pointing frantically.

“Okay,” Stan said, still wary. “Show us the room.”

Richie opened the door to find only wall. “Oh, very funny, room,” he grumbled. “How about giving me something to prove to my friends that I’m not crazy?”

A small note shot out of the wall.

Eddie squatted down to pick it up. “It says:  _ Proof that Richie’s not crazy.” _

Stan did his best not to laugh. Richie had met his match, and it appeared to be a sentient room.

“Really?” Richie asked the wall. “You’re gonna do this to me now? After all the time we’ve spent together?” He closed the door, ignoring Bev’s giggling. “Can you give me  _ my _ room that I’ve been sleeping in for two weeks?” he asked the door. “Or… maybe a little bigger so my friends have room to sit, please?”

He screwed his eyes shut and wrenched the door open.

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank Merlin.” He stepped inside and spread his arms. “I give you my super safe bedroom! And then some because I asked nicely!”

Stan had to admit, it was very nice. It was soft, somehow, with cushioned chairs and a large bed that looked more like a nest than anything. Richie’s clothes were strewn around everywhere, all his scarves tossed in a pile next to two of Eddie’s which had been hung up nicely.

“I  _ knew _ you were stealing these!” Eddie said.

“I’m not stealing them,” Richie said. “You just keep giving them to me, and I think it’s funny to keep showing up to class in Gryffindor colors, and sometimes you forget you’ve already given me a scarf when you give me another.”

“You’re a horrible clothes thief!” Eddie snapped at him.

“Well, since you apparently love your clothes more than anything, I suppose that’s a pretty devastating insult,” Richie retorted.

Stan groaned. “Stop talking about the Amortentia! Please!”

“Alright alright,” Richie said, flopping back against the bed.

Bev shut the door. “This is pretty nice,” she said. She patted the door. “Thanks for taking care of Richie, room.”

Eddie shoved Richie over to clamber into the bed beside him. “Don’t hog the entire bed you lanky fuck, it’s clearly the most comfortable place sit!”

Richie spluttered at Eddie’s kicking and squirming, then shifted to fox form to bounce onto Eddie’s chest and spring off into the sheets, rolling happily.

Stan smiled despite himself. “Alright, this place is pretty nice.”

“And we don’t have to explain why we have a fox,” Ben said, watching as Richie bounded from the bed and into Bev’s lap, then Bill’s, then back into the bed.

Eddie watched him bouncing around for a good five minutes before finally reaching over to snatch him off the ground. “Alright, that’s enough out of you, you spazzy little nutcase.”

Richie grinned at them with his entire pointy snout as Eddie pulled him close, leaving him trapped in his grip, unable to do anything but wriggle and wag his tail like he was about to explode from happiness.

Stan sighed and sat down. “We could use this as a new place to hang out. It’s nicer than sitting in the corners of hallways and stuff.”

“Y-Yeah,” Bill said. “That would be nice.”

“Hey, room?” Bev asked. “Could we have some tunes, please?”

There was suddenly a Weird Sisters song playing in the background.

“Nice taste, room,” Bev said, sitting back.

“Alright,” Stan said, leaning back. “Mike, give us the weekly Georgie report, then.”

Mike grinned, cracking his knuckled and clearing his throat. “I am pleased to inform you all that Georgie has perfected his Leviosa!”

They cheered and clapped and let him continue..

After a while, Richie pried his way free of Eddie to jump into all their laps for a while and play with Mike, who indulgently fluffed pillows for Richie to bounce into. Richie crawled into Stan’s lap as his energy flagged, and Stan petted his head until Eddie’s jealousy took over and he dragged Richie back and tickled his nose with his tail until Richie dozed off in a small ball.

Once Richie was asleep and Eddie was thoroughly distracted by tugging his tail just enough to be needlessly annoying without waking Richie, Bill leaned close to Stan.

“Did Richie t-talk to you about… you know?” He nodded at Eddie.

Stan raised a brow. “Did he come out to me?” he whispered back, quiet enough that Eddie wouldn’t hear. “No. He thinks Mike found out, but he doesn’t know anyone else knows.”

Bill sighed. “Oh.” 

“Yeah,” Stan said. “Mike wants him to come out on his own terms, and theoretically I agree… but his own terms are  _ bad.” _

“He’ll g-get there,” Bill murmured. “Have you tried h-hinting that…?”

“Yes,” Stan said. “I have hinted literally everything.”

“What are you two whispering about over there?” Eddie asked.

“None of your business,” Stan snapped.

“Okay, jeez,” Eddie replied, curling up with Richie a little tighter.

Bill gave him a Look, and Stan shook his head.  _ I can’t help it,  _ he tried to say with his eyes,  _ they’re just so stupid. _

“O-One of them has to get there eventually, right?” Bill murmured.

Stan stared at Eddie, who was currently tickling Richie’s nose with his own tail and grinning to himself.

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Stan sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *frantically drops hints about bowers and the cruciatus curse so i'm not shot on sight for coming out of nowhere with What I Am About To Do* so anyway yes guys how are you, i'm fine and not planning any atrocities or anything


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh dear its time to sin 
> 
> (by which i mean real sins, not sexual content)
> 
> content warnings for the cruciatus curse and reprocussions thereof, i guess, but i've figured that, angsty times aside, it's pretty much gonna go back to oblivious pining shenanigans after this so i think tbh... those parts can be skipped without missing much? i'll put a small note at the end summing up the gist of it. so yes, skip from “At least I need a good way to talk Richie out of this Amortentia business, because he hasn’t listened to anything else I’ve--” to "The others slowly came back into focus, too caught up in arguing to notice that Richie was actually speaking." if this is something that you'd prefer not to read.

“Can it  _ please _ be full moon already?” Eddie moaned. “I know it sucks for Bill but I just want Richie to shut. The hell. Up.”

“He’s  _ still  _ doing it?” Bev asked.

“Yes!” Eddie said. “And I genuinely don’t get it. When he does his bits, at least I understand why, but he just won’t let this go. It’s  _ driving me insane _ and I cannot wait to spend time with him where he just shuts the fuck up.”

“I’m sure he means well,” Ben murmured.

“Then he should listen to me!” Eddie yelled. “I’m serious, if you guys know what this is about, please tell me so I can talk him out of it, because he  _ won’t _ stop!”

“I… have some clue,” Bev said.

“So  _ tell _ me!” Eddie blurted.

“Well, it’s,” she said, picking her words carefully. Ben grimaced in sympathy. He didn’t exactly want to give Richie away either - they didn’t even know if Eddie did like him back, and Ben could only imagine the mortification he would have felt if anyone had told Beverly about his feelings before he was ready. Especially if she’d rejected him. “I suppose you could say it’s jealousy.”

“Of  _ what?” _ Eddie cried. 

On the other hand, Richie was actually pushing Eddie to the verge of breakdown with this Amortentia obsession. Bev seemed to think Eddie was smelling Richie, but Ben only wished he could say it was a safe bet.

“Hey guys,” Richie said. “What’s up?”

“If you shove  _ anything _ in my nose, I swear to God I will end you,” Eddie growled.

“Not even a little sniff?” Richie asked.

“No!” Eddie shouted. “Can’t you just let something go for once in your goddamn life?!”

Richie huffed, pretending to be deeply offended to hide the actual hurt. “Fine. See if I care when you never ever find your one true love.”

“Fine, don’t!”

“I won’t!”

“Good!”

They both collapsed against opposite walls, arms crossed and stewing in anger.

“Where’s Bill?” Stan asked, yawning as he caught up with them.

“He didn’t feel well,” Bev said. “He’s sticking back in his room until the transformation.”

“Oh, good,” Stan said. “Maybe if we’re all hanging out as animals I can sink my talons into these two when they start being assholes.”

“Fuck you, Stan,” Eddie muttered.

“Yeah, fuck you, Stan,” Richie said.

“Well, at least you agree on something,” Stan muttered, and sat down to eat with them in awkward, tense silence.

**

Stan had never had such an awful time during their stays with Bill.

Usually, it was a sense of freedom, being able to fly and play with his friends free from any expectations.

Now, Richie was being a terror, nipping and barking just to be annoying rather than to play, and Eddie was worryingly bitey, Bill and his muddled wolf brain was just trying to lick them both into submission only to get spit at by Eddie, and Stan was suddenly struck by a bone deep fear that this crush Richie had on Eddie wasn’t just annoying, it was actually going to tear them apart.

And worse still, birds couldn’t cry.

By the time they were clambering back to the Gryffindor common room at five in the morning, nothing was better. Stan had been back in human form for almost ten minutes now, and still had not had the chance to have a good cry, because he was trudging along behind a sulking Eddie and Richie waiting for any sign at all that they’d make up soon.

“Hey, your sense of smell is better as a bobcat, right?” Richie said.

Stan couldn’t tell if it was genuine or just agitating to see what would happen.

“What the fuck is your  _ problem?” _ Eddie snapped. “Why won’t you leave this  _ alone? _ I keep fucking asking you to just  _ drop _ it, and you won’t!”

“Why don’t you fucking care?” Richie hissed back. “I’m trying to help you!”

“By ignoring that I don’t give a shit about this?” Eddie snapped. “I don’t need you to hunt down some hypothetical girl I bumped into a smelled at some point because maybe despite all logic, she’s my soulmate.”

Stan’s stomach twisted into knots. It was the worst time to mention a girl, and yet Eddie couldn’t possibly know that.

Maybe it had been the wrong call not to just tell Eddie. Maybe Richie would have eventually forgiven Stanley, and at least they wouldn’t be having this fight now.

“Well I’m sorry for wanting you to be happy!”

“Why can’t I just be happy with my friends?” Eddie snapped back. “It’s our last year, I don’t  _ want _ to start dating some random person now! I just want to hang out with you guys, but I  _ can’t _ because you’re spending every second of our time together obsessed with this!”

“You’re going to have to get out there and be with someone someday!” Richie yelled.

Stan tried to shush him, but his voice felt all too quiet.

“Why does it matter to you?!” Eddie yelled, even louder.

“Guys, we’re going to get caught,” Stan hissed.  _ And be expelled and fall apart and never speak to each other again and… _

“Because when you’re off prancing around with some girl, I want to at least be remembered as the guy who got you together!” Richie replied.

Now they were all on the verge of tears. 

_ “Guys,” _ Stan tried again.

“That is such  _ bullshit,  _ Richard,” Eddie hissed. “You really think I’m such a fucking asshole I’d just abandon my friends the second I get a girlfriend?”

“No!” Richie said. “But that’s just how things fucking go! Your friends get girlfriends and they move on!”

“Fuck you,” Eddie said, tears rolling down his face. “Just fuck right off, Richie.”

“Fine,” Richie snapped. “Maybe I will.”

He shifted, orange tail bobbing along as he vanished down the hall.

“Eddie,” Stan said, but Eddie was too busy crying and waving him off tersely so he could race down the hallway.

But on the bright side, at least now Stan could cry in peace.

**

“It was really bad,” Ben said. “I wasn’t even sure I should leave Stan alone but he ended up crying himself to sleep, so I just tucked him in and made sure he was sleeping alright before I came to meet up with you. I think I'll let him sleep in. We have Herbology today anyway, and I’m sure Professor Spout won’t mind if I tell her he’s under the weather.”

“Jeez,” Bev said. “Maybe we should just tell Eddie.”

“I can’t imagine that going over well with Richie,” Ben said. “As… you know, the expert on pining around here.”

“Oh, I think Richie might have you beat, sorry,” Bev said, grinning.

“Well, Richie knew,” Ben said. “About me. And he didn’t tell, even though he’s your best friend. And I’m really grateful, because it would have been really, really embarrassing.”

Bev sighed. “Yeah, but this is  _ torture,” _ she said. “At least I need a good way to talk Richie out of this Amortentia business, because he hasn’t listened to anything else I’ve--”

She was interrupted by a loud.  _ “Crucio!” _

She went pale. “Are those fox noises?” she asked.

“Wait, what…?” Ben said, but she was already running, and he took off after her.

He was considerably taller than her, which ended up with him sliding to a stop in front of the Bowers gang a few seconds before she did. He froze, which ended up being enough of a distraction for Bev to send Bowers flying with a curse that blew the dirt up.

“Ben, get… get the animal,” she said, voice shaking.

Ben raced to scoop up the fox. Part of him hoped it wasn’t Richie, because he didn’t look good, but the small streaks of brown fur around his eyes were all too recognizable.

Bev pointed her wand at Hockstetter. “I know some nasty fucking curses,” she said. “I don’t need Unforgivables to make you fucking miserable. You really wanna try this?”

“Fine,” Hockstetter said, hands up. “It’s just a dumb fuckin’ animal. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

She was shaking as she watched them gather up Bowers and walk away, but not as badly as Richie.

“Shit,” Ben said, noting the loop of barbed wire around Richie’s snout. “Oh, fuck.” He reached to try to untangle it, but the moment he pulled it tightened. Richie whimpered weakly, trying to pull away. His eyes were open, but barely, cloudy in a way that made Ben’s heart race.

“Oh, fuck, fuck,” Bev hissed. “Oh, Merlin, is he…?” She pet his ears, but he barely responded, quivering all over.

“What’s an Unforgivable?” Ben asked.

“They used the Cruciatus Curse on him,” Bev said, pulling Richie into her own arms. “It’s unimaginable pain, one of three curses that’ll land you right in Azkaban.”

“Oh,” Ben said, for lack of a better thing to say. “Oh God.”

“Get Stan,” she said. “I’ll take him to Eddie, see if he can take this wire off.”

Ben nodded, and watched her cradle Richie close and run back to the castle as he took off towards the Ravenclaw tower.

**

Bev slipped inside, trying to keep Richie’s head hidden under her scarf without it catching on the wire.

Eddie was curled up in one of the armchairs, leafing miserably through his notebook with his watch on his lap. Bev tried to get his attention without alerting the rest of the common room, but before she could, Betty Ripsom let out a small, startled noise. “Beverly, is that a  _ fox?” _ she cried.

Bev hissed as Eddie’s head snapped up.

“Bowers…” she started, swallowing. “Bowers was using the Cruciatus Curse on it. I couldn’t just leave it.”

Eddie’s eyes bore into hers as he slipped the watch into his pocket with shaking hands. _ Please be bluffing. Please, _ his eyes said.

The whole common room was staring at her now, horrified. She tried to shake her head imperceptibly. _Don't react,_ she tried to tell him silently. _I know how hard it is but no one can know he's an unregistered Animagus, you know that. _ “I was hoping Eddie could patch him up,” she said weakly.

Eddie threw down the notebook and ran over. “What… what’s the…?” he stammered.

Bev slowly unwrapped Richie from her scarf. Betty slid a cushion onto the floor so Bev could lay Richie down onto it, and Bev did her best to do so gently.

Eddie put a hand over his mouth to muffle the choked sob that escaped at the sight of Richie, eyes closed and breathing hard, the wire digging into his little snout.

“Oh, God, we have to take…” Betty said, reaching for the wire.

“No don’t!” Bev cried. “It’s cursed, it tightens when you try to loosen it.”

Eddie slowly lowered himself down beside Richie and reached for him. “How… How long did Bowers use…?” he managed.

“Ten, fifteen seconds?” Bev said. She wished she’d run faster. “I don’t know, I ran to help as soon as I heard.”

“That’s still far too long,” someone else said.

“He’s been torturing all kinds of animals to death,” another girl said. “Someone has to do something about him.”

Eddie wiped tears from his eyes and got out his wand to try to still the wire while he tugged it away, but his hands were shaking. Bev hissed as she watched him prick his fingers on the wire more than once, jerking back at every choked whimper spilling out of Richie’s mouth, tightening the wire as Richie feebly jerked away.

“Poor thing,” Betty said. “I think it knows we’re trying to help, but it can’t help itself. It must be in so much pain.”

Eddie sobbed, sitting back. “I can’t,” he said. “I’m just hurting him more, I can’t do it.”

“Mike,” Bev said. “Mike has steady hands.”

She scooped Richie up again. 

“Make sure to let us know if it survives,” Betty said.

Eddie sobbed again, holding onto Bev’s robe as she nodded and dragged them both out of the common room.

Stan, Ben and Mike were already waiting outside the common room, and Stan bolted forward the moment he saw them. “Oh, fuck, is he… oh, fuck.” He reached out.

Eddie shrieked. “No don’t touch!” he managed, sobbing even harder. “God, no, just don’t… everything hurts him, don’t…”

Stan drew back, white as a sheet.

“The wire keeps tightening when we try to get it off,” Bev explained. She was also crying, but she needed to stay focused.

“Let’s take him to his room and I’ll get it off,” Mike said, steady as he could be under the circumstances, but even his voice was shaking.

Bev hadn’t run so much in years, but adrenaline was somehow keeping her going.

“Fuck,” Stan said, as they got to the room and laid Richie on a cushion. “I’ll keep the spell steady, you just try to pry it off.”

Mike nodded, waiting for Stan to angle his wand at Richie while Eddie crawled closer to pet Richie’s tail softly, crying desperately.

**

Eddie was going to lose his mind.

Every single chain of the wire was a separate battle, and Richie was in  _ pain. _ Richie was in pain and they’d been arguing and what was he going to be like when he could shift back? He’d heard about the Cruciatus Curse, but he didn’t know how it worked or how long it took to drive people mad or… 

Bill burst into the room after what seemed like an eternity, and thankfully Mike managed to stay steady, because the rest of them jumped a foot in the air.

“W-Where is h-h-he?” Bill asked, though he was already kneeling down beside Mike. “F-Fuh-Fuck.”

Mike tugged the last loop loose and slipped it off, and the moment it was gone, Richie was on his hands and knees as a human, limbs flailing everywhere.

Everything got very loud and very hectic very quickly.

The blood and bruises were so much more glaring on Richie’s pale skin, and he was screaming like Eddie had never hear him scream. Some of it was garbled words, pleas for the pain to stop, to make it  _ stop,  _ but mostly it was just  _ screaming. _

They all reached for him, but he flailed at them like he didn’t know what was going on or where he was or that he wasn’t still being tortured.

Eddie threw himself at Richie and pulled him in.

“He needs a doctor,” Stan said. “He needs…”

“How are we going to explain how this happened to him?” Bev cried.

“Who fucking cares?” Stan shouted.

“I care! If they realize he’s an unregistered Animagus, do you know what could happen to him?”

“Look what’s already happened to him!”

Eddie tuned them out, focusing on grabbing at Richie any which way he could. “Richie, please, please, it’s me, it’s Eddie, you’re safe…” he babbled, pulling Richie close as Richie screamed and scrabbled at him in panic. He wasn’t even sure what he was saying anymore, or what anyone else was saying, only that he couldn’t possibly let go of Richie, not now and possibly not ever.

“Make it stop, please, make it stop,” Richie sobbed, the fight slowly leaving him.

“I will, I will, just let me,” Eddie sobbed back, holding him as tightly as he dared. “Just come here, it’s me, it’s…”

“Eds?” Richie mumbled.

Eddie lifted his head, letting go of Richie just enough to look at his face. His bloody, cut up face. “Yes,” he whispered. “Yes, thank God, it’s me.”

“Eds, you’re crying,” Richie managed, sounding confused. “Don’t do that.”

Eddie nearly laughed at that. “Why the fuck wouldn’t I cry?”

The others slowly came back into focus, too caught up in arguing to notice that Richie was actually speaking.

“They are going to lock him up in Azkaban and the dementors are going to suck every last drop of happiness out of him and when he’s curled up there cold and lifeless and helpless, he’s not even going to fucking blame us!” Bev was shrieking, near hysterics as Ben held her back.

Stan wasn’t any better, screaming incomprehensibly as Mike and Bill held  _ him _ back.

“Course I wouldn’t,” Richie said. He was still sobbing, but at least he was  _ present. _ “But stop it, you’re making Stan cry.” They all froze to look at him, and he drew his knees in to his chest. “Everyone stop crying, I’m fine.”

Eddie broke down into a fresh wave of tears as they all turned to stare at him, shaking and bloody and the furthest from fine. 

“And you can’t tell anyone because they’ll keep us from Bill,” Richie said.

“What is  _ wrong  _ with you?” Stan shrieked, kicking and screaming as Mike nearly lifted him off the ground to try to get him to calm down. “Can’t you just fucking focus on yourself for once?!”

Bev crashed to the ground to press herself to Richie’s side and sob.

“Stop that,” Richie said, putting a quivering arm around her and drawing both her and Eddie close. “No more crying.”

Mike finally set Stan down so Stan could throw himself over Richie’s lap and sob.  _ “You _ stop, you  _ idiot,” _ Stan choked out, and Bill and Mike were collapsing on top of Eddie’s shoulders while he did his best to keep their weight off of Richie, and Ben slid in around Bev.

“I bit the shit out of Patrick Hockstetter though,” Richie managed, still sobbing. “That was fun.”

“Shut the  _ fuck _ up, Richie,” Eddie said, and squeezed him harder.

**

“You remember how we became friends?” Stan asked, nestling his curls against Richie's leg as he spoke.

“Mm?” Richie managed. He was half asleep, which was understandable. “Yeah, you were mean to me and I thought it was funny, so I attached myself to you and refused to take no for an answer.”

Eddie had mostly taken care of the cuts on his face, and had done his best for his ribs - which, they’d learned, had probably been broken when Belch had kicked him for biting Patrick - and the shaking was slowly easing as they all laid close. Only Eddie was holding him, mostly because he’d kicked them all away in case they aggravated his ribs, but they’d all found a way to touch him.

“No, that wasn’t the start of it,” Stan said. “By then I’d already decided to be friends with you.”

“What?” Richie mumbled. “Why?”

“We had Charms together that year,” Stan said. “Our first year. And you were friends with this little group of Slytherins.”

“Oh yeah,” Richie murmured. “They were pretty nice.”

“No,” Stan said. “They weren’t. They kept making you do their homework, remember?”

“Sure,” Richie said. “But they were my first friends around here, so I didn’t mind.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Stan said. “But I was so angry at them, because you were just so happy for the attention, and they barely even gave you any, even though they were constantly using you. And you were annoying, but you were also such a dork. You had braces and you smiled all the time and you were vibrating with joy any time anyone talked to you.”

“I’d never really had friends my own age,” Richie said. “It was new and exciting.”

“So I said something sarcastic about one of your bits at some point and you  _ beamed _ at me. Just for acknowledging you,” Stan said. “I’d already decided I was going to be your friend, because clearly you were too dumb to know what a good friend is, but then I knew.”

“He t-told us like he was p-petitioning a foreign government,” Bill said. “Informed us he would be introducing a n-new fr-friend.”

“I was horrified,” Eddie said. “Stan was such a well behaved boy, like my mother always wanted me to be friends with, and then he just showed up with you in tow, all over the place and cursing like a motherfucker.”

“‘S what I am.”

“More like my mom’s worst nightmare,” Eddie snorted.

“Pff, yeah, that's probably true. So, how long’d it take for you to come around on me?” Richie asked.

“Like, a day,” Eddie said. “You accidentally pushed me over and when I cried you just stood there with your hand outstretched waiting for me to let you help me up. You didn’t really fret or make fun, you just talked about random shit and made stupid-ass jokes. And I realized I wasn’t really that hurt and you helped me up and everything was fine.”

Richie cracked an eye open to peek at him. “That’s all it took?”

“Yeah. It was kind and you didn’t have to talk down to me to do it,” Eddie said. “Turned my fucking life around, to be honest.”

Richie shifted so he could look up at Eddie's face properly, wincing when it aggravated his injuries. “Fuck, seriously?”

Eddie gazed down at him for a long, quiet moment, face soft. “Yeah, seriously.”

Richie took a deep, shuddering breath, and looked away. Eddie didn't.

“You did the same to me,” Bev said, after a moment. “Remember? Everyone thought I was a dark witch because of my dad, and you made a horrible joke about it to my face and then just fucking started being friends with me. You weren’t scared to bring it up but you didn’t give a shit about it either and I just felt so free with you.”

“Fuck, guys, you’re gonna make me cry,” Richie said.

“You accepted me without blinking an eye,” Ben continued. “I feel like I blinked and you were one of my closest friends.”

“Yep,” Mike said. “I don’t even know when it happened, you were just there, all energy and jokes and I knew I’d die for you. Didn’t even have to question why.”

“Jesus, Mike, warn a guy.”

“You w-were the one to suggest being an Animagus,” Bill said. “Even though you were so, so scared of werewolves, remember? You m-mentioned them being your worst fear.”

“After clowns,” Eddie corrected.

“Clowns aren't even scary," Stan mumbled, half asleep.

“I told you in c-case you didn’t want to be friends with one,” Bill said. “And you l-looked me right in the eyes and said ‘wh-wuh-what if we were animals too, though.’ You barely even thought about it.”

“Well yeah,” Richie said. “We’re friends.”

“You know that’s h-how we feel about you too, right?” Bill said.

Richie was silent for a long moment. “Sure.”

Bill waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. He sighed, not wanting to push Richie too far after the day he'd had. Eddie was thumbing at his hair comfortingly, and Bill patted him too. “Get some rest, Rich.”

“Thank Merlin it’s the weekend tomorrow,” Stan said. “I don’t know what I’d do if we had class.”

"I'd lose it," Eddie muttered. "The fucking Minister of Magic couldn't make me leave Richie right now, and he needs bedrest."

“Skip class, obviously,” Richie said. “Jeez, and you say I’m the idiot.”

“You _are_ an idiot. Now go to sleep,” Eddie grumbled.

Richie bent his head into the crook of Eddie's shoulder. He was silent for a good long moment, and Bill hoped he'd fallen asleep. "I'm really sorry I was being such a terror," Richie murmured. "About the potion thing. I just wanted to help."

Eddie sighed. "Help me by taking care of yourself, will you? I'm not mad. Just get some sleep." He pulled Richie in closer, wrapping his arms around him, and after a moment, Bill could hear them both breathing softly. 

He laid awake a while longer, listening to all of them breathing softly, getting quieter until Bill could only hear breathing and Stan's occasional sniffling. He reached over, squeezing Stan's wrist quietly. The sniffling didn't stop, but Bill felt Stan squeeze his wrist back before he dozed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bowers and co find richie as a fox, trap him in cursed wire and crucio him (unaware that it's richie), bev and ben come to the rescue, figure out how to free him as a group. he's still v traumatized by the cruciatus curse and doesn't know where he is so stan and bev argue about whether or not to take him to the nurse (bc they'd have to explain that he was a fox during the cursing and that is, in fact, illegal) but then richie comes too.
> 
> that's it that's my crimes.
> 
> ANYWAY there's still a lot of residual angst to be dealt with but now things will be heading uphill i promise


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so this chapter starts out angsty but it gets better i promise

Eddie checked Richie’s forehead for fever for the third time in as many minutes. He knew it was a nervous reaction, but Richie had been sleeping for nearly fifteen hours now.

Could someone slip into a coma after being coherent for several hours? Were Crucio Comas even a thing? What was the way to deal with a coma, and would it work on a cursed coma?

Richie started awake, breathing heavily, and Eddie nearly fell off the bed.

Richie rubbed his eyes. “What’s happening?” he asked. “Where is everyone?”

“Mike, Bev and Bill are raiding the kitchens,” Eddie said. “Ben and Stan are getting some clean clothes and some games.”

“They know this is a magic room, right?” Richie asked.

“I think they… kind of wanted me to clear the air with you,” Eddie admitted. “You apologized and I just kind of fretted at you some more, and I just wanted to say…”

“Oh,” Richie said, dropping his eyes and shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s my bad. I was being weird.”

Eddie bit his lip. “I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t talk about it,” he admitted, settling into bed so his feet were tucked under Richie’s arm, tapping his toes gently against Richie’s elbow to comfort him. “That was the worst of it. I felt like no matter what I said you weren’t listening and you weren’t saying anything real back, you just wanted to find some stupid smell. And I… I’m not really mad, but I… I just don’t get it.” 

“I really am sorry,” Richie murmured.

“You don’t have to be,” Eddie sighed. “You just…” He sighed. It didn’t really matter, not after all the terror he’d felt yesterday at the thought of losing Richie. “I just missed my best friend, is all.”

Richie peered up at him, slightly off without his glasses. “Yeah, I guess… me too,” he said. “I just got carried away and stuff got weird and I didn’t know how to pull out of it.”

Eddie frowned at him, smoothing out the wrinkles in his blanket to keep his hands occupied. “Was it about what you saw? In my future?”

Richie froze. “What makes you say that?”

“Because you were right about yours,” Eddie said. “And you were never honest about mine and then right after, you started this  _ thing _ and I just… I keep thinking it’s something about romance because of how you were talking about the Amortentia, but then I don’t get why you’d freak out about it so hard and…”

Richie swallowed. “It’s complicated,” he said. “It’s… It’s just complicated.”

“I can handle it,” Eddie murmured. “Whatever freaked you out, I can handle it. I just want to understand. I don’t care what it is.”

“Eds,” Richie said. “Eddie. Don’t ask.”

“Please?”

Richie turned his face away. “It’s nothing you have to worry about, I promise. You’re gonna be fine. I won’t… I won’t be weird anymore, just don’t ask,  _ please.” _

Eddie stared at him. He only had more questions now, but he only had the heart to ask the most important one: “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” Richie said, tone shaking.

“Richie, I don’t think I can be fine if you’re not fine,” Eddie pressed.

“I will be fine,” Richie said, smiling. “Promise. Just… so long as we’re friends, it’ll be okay.”

Eddie wanted to protest, but he didn’t want to argue. “You know I’m not going to abandon you if I fall in love, right? I could never. Never ever.” It still didn’t make sense, per se, but it was Eddie’s best guess.

“That’s not it,” Richie said softly. “Of course it’s not. I never thought you would, I just… It’s complicated. And… I just wanted to do something for you. Just… something important.”

“Is this where you tell me someday I’ll understand?” Eddie tried to joke.

“No,” Richie said, more serious than Eddie had ever seen him. “Sorry. I hope you never understand.”

Eddie wanted to tell him about the times and the way they changed with Richie’s emotions, but at the moment it just felt like Richie would panic and try to hide even that from Eddie, and the thought of being deprived of every little glance into Richie’s heart was unbearable. He’d always thought Richie wore his heart on his sleeve, but this moment felt like Eddie was staring at that heart only to find a hole where a massive piece was supposed to be. Richie had hidden it from him for reasons Eddie didn’t understand, and it ached like a piece was missing from Eddie’s own heart. 

“You fixed my dad’s watch,” he croaked. “That was important.”

“I didn’t fix it,” Richie said.

“Fixed it enough for me,” Eddie said quickly.

Richie smiled at him. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“You know how much you mean to me, right?” Eddie said helplessly, because it seemed relevant at the moment, and there was nothing better he could say to comfort Richie in something Richie wouldn’t let him know.

“Yeah,” Richie said. “Of course, Eds, you’d be bereft without me.”

Eddie tried to smile back, but he wasn’t sure that Richie knew at all, and Eddie lacked words big enough to tell him.

But then it was over, because Stan and Ben returned, and Richie was back to grinning and trying to show them that he was alright, and Eddie knew the conversation was over until he found a way back in.

Eddie took the chance to sneak a look at his watch, and when he could next get to his notebook he wrote, next to the neat 9:29 in his notebook, in small, shaky writing:  _ heartbroken? _

**

“You sure you can make it to class?” Stan asked, heart nearly beating out of his chest at the smallest of Richie’s winces. He’d had two days to sleep it off and let Eddie try every healing spell and potion in the book, but he still looked drawn and stiff.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” Richie said. “So long as we get a seat far, far from Bowers…”

“God,” Ben said. “I don’t know how you’ll be able to be in the same room as him, Rich.”

“Why? He took a bite out of you our fourth year and you’re still around,” Richie said.

“That was different,” Ben said darkly, and Stan was relieved that he shared the sentiment, because Stan also felt a twisting feeling in the pit of his chest at how much worse it had felt. Ben had been bloody and puking slugs from a curse, sure, but it was a far cry away from the way Richie had  _ screamed _ and...

And Stan could have stopped it. His heart was in his throat, choking him, tears stinging at his eyes. He couldn’t put it out of his head. Not the screaming or the blood on Richie’s face or the shaking that had kept up for a day and a half or the sick look on Eddie’s face after he’d been left alone with Richie for a while or the fact that if he’d just  _ said _ something, if he’d just told Richie that he didn’t have to do the stupid Amortentia nonsense because he didn’t have to  _ hide,  _ then…

“Too bad I can’t show off my battle scars,” Richie joked, gesturing at his face. His chin was still all cut and bruised and Stan had put a concealment charm onto it so no one, least of all Bowers, could make the connection between the tortured fox and Richie himself. “I’m sure the ladies would love it.”

“Fucking hell, Richie,” Stan found himself saying before he noticed it was happening. He usually thought quite a bit before he said anything at all, in contrast to what seemed like most of his friends, but now it was just spilling out, chased by an all consuming ache that if he’d just calmed Richie down before, if he’d just made Richie feel a little safer about admitting his feelings, if he’d just… “I  _ know.” _

Richie blinked at him, and he wanted to take it back, but there was no doing it now, because there were tears streaming down his face because Richie was cocking his head at him and if Stan was going to say something it should have been earlier and better but it hadn’t been and Stan was now weeping and there was no taking it back anymore.

“Whoa, whoa, hey,” Richie said, putting his hands on Stan’s shoulders. “Hey, buck up there, kiddo, don’t cry. Whaddya know?”

“About why you and Eddie got into it,” Stan choked out between sobs. “About why you got so weird about that stupid potion. I knew and I could have told you to stop because it’s not… it’s not something you have to do, you don’t have to be into girls or make sure Eddie gets his happy ending to  _ hide _ or… or make up for the fact that you wish his happy ending was you and… and if I’d just said something you might not have had a fight and you might not have gotten hurt and…!”

Richie’s hands fell from Stan’s shoulders, and Stan grabbed at his robe, terrified of the thought that Richie might run away. 

“Right,” Richie said, tone oddly empty and sounding very little like Richie. “Mike told you, huh?”

“No,” Ben said, which Stan appreciated because he was crying to hard to say anything. “Mike didn’t tell us anything, we just figured it out.”

“Oh, you too?” Richie said, backing up like they were threatening him, eyes cold and wary. “Okay. So what, everyone’s just been gossiping about it behind my back? Just sitting there going oh, look at him making a fool of himself, pointlessly trying to make up for how he’s just a big ol’ fucking f--?”

Stan let out a noise of pure devastation and threw his arms around Richie before he could say it, a small bit of damage control in the face of a firestorm of shit. “Stop it!” he cried. “Just stop! No one was gossiping, we just… we just…  _ fuck, _ Richie, all of us just want you to be happy, don’t you  _ know _ that?”

Richie was frighteningly still under him, but slowly he reached up to put a hand on Stan’s back and grip his robes tentatively, like a child tugging on a teacher’s sleeve, asking for reassurance. “You don’t…? You don’t hate me?”

“No!” Stan sobbed as Ben awkwardly fielded off a few third years before they could start to stare. Stan forced himself to be quieter, pulling back so he could cup Richie’s face in his hands. “Merlin, Richie, no, none of us would ever hate you!”

Tears rolled silently down Richie’s face, and he frantically wiped them away. “Does Eddie know?”

“No,” Stan assured him. “He’s the only one that doesn’t.”

“You know how he gets,” Richie said weakly. “About… About anything sick or dirty…”

“You’re not either of those things,” Ben promised. “And if Eddie thinks so…”

“We’ll kill him,” Stan said, a joke which didn’t seem to go over as well as he’d thought it would, because Richie’s face twisted into worry instead of laughter.

“We’ll gently talk him out of it,” Ben corrected.

Stan cocked his head in acceptance. “Or that.”

“Don’t tell him how I feel,” Richie murmured. “I’ll come out to the others so they don’t have to tiptoe, but please don’t tell Eddie how I feel about him.”

Stan let out a slow breath. “You don’t have to,” he said. “I… All of us wanted you to feel safe about coming out, we really did, but… I just keep thinking if I’d said something, then… maybe you wouldn’t have been out there and you wouldn’t have run into Bowers and…”

“Stan,” Richie said, taking his hands and squeezing. “It’s not your fault.” 

“Sure,” Stan said, unconvinced. “But really, you don’t have to say or do anything you don’t want to.”

“If they all know anyway,” Richie said, barking a halfhearted laugh. “It’s really just Eddie I’m telling, so fuck me I guess.” 

Stan winced. “Richie, I…”

“Just promise you’ll be my friend no matter what the others say?” Richie murmured, eyes wide and pleading.

“Merlin, you’re so dumb,” Stan said, and pulled Richie in for a tight hug. “As if I’d ever stop being your best friend for anything in the world.”

Richie snorted, almost himself again, and hugged him back.

**

Eddie was going to wear a hole into Richie’s sentient room. Richie had gone to class despite all of Eddie’s attempts to get him not to, and Eddie’s efforts to keep an eye on him via the watch had backfired. The watch had been flitting between times like crazy all morning, and among them Eddie had seen that awful 9:29 three times. 

He didn’t know exactly what that time meant, but he hated it. Hated every moment that Richie felt whatever was attached to it.

The door opened, and Eddie nearly blackout with relief at seeing Richie in one piece. “Where the fuck have you been?” he snapped. “Class has been over for forever!”

“We were getting the others,” Richie said, looking queasy.

“What happened?” Eddie blurted, looking around frantically at the others as they milled into the room and took seats.

“Richie has something important he’d like to tell us,” Stan said.

_ “Like  _ is a strong word,” Richie said, looking downright green. “Stan’s making me.”

Stan pursed his lips, crossing his arms.

“What could you possibly be making him say after everything he’s been through?” Eddie yelled at Stan.

“I told him he doesn’t have to!” Stan protested.

“No, I should,” Richie said. “Eddie, it’s okay, Stan didn’t do anything wrong, I’m only joking. Sit down.”

Eddie gawked at him, wanting to protest. Nothing was supposed to make Richie look that scared, certainly not any of his friends, but he sat down anyway.

Richie gnawed at his tongue for a moment.

Eddie couldn’t imagine what he could have to say. Was he leaving school? Dying? Had something more happened to him that they didn’t know of? Eddie’s stomach twisted, dozens of nightmare scenarios flitting through his head.

“I’m gay,” Richie said.

Eddie’s temper spiked despite his best efforts not to let it. There was something seriously wrong here and Richie was creating a diversion with a  _ gay joke? _ “Oh,  _ fuck _ you!” he snapped, fully expecting Richie to brush it off with a sheepish little grin and move on to the real problem.

Instead, everyone was suddenly looking at him very angrily and Richie, it seemed, was bursting into tears, and Eddie realized all at once and with a great deal of horror that it had not been a joke. At all.

“Oh,” Eddie said. “Oh no.” He leaped out of his seat and bolted over to Richie. “Oh, wait wait, I thought you were kidding, I swear I thought you were kidding!”

Richie slid to his knees and Eddie scrambled to figure out what to do before helplessly throwing himself around Richie.

“You d-don’t have t-to,” Richie managed between sobs, and Eddie wanted to kick himself into oblivion. “You don’t have to touch me.”

“Oh, fuck, no, I’m not upset!” Eddie said. “I’m not upset at all, I’m sorry! I thought… God, I was so worried and I thought you were trying to joke off something serious and the panic took over and I’m so, so sorry, I’m… Jesus, Richie, I’m so sorry!”

Richie wailed helplessly into his shoulder, crying so hard it resonated through his lanky frame, and Eddie wished he could be tall enough to gather all of Richie into his arms and hide him from the world. “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t mean to like boys or… or…” Richie wept, and Eddie squeezed him tighter.

“It’s okay,” Eddie whispered. “It’s okay, you’re okay.” He wasn’t sure what it was you said to comfort someone weeping like this. 

His mother comforted him often, but in retrospect she only ever said something sickly sweet that secretly made it all worse and scarier, which was the opposite of what Eddie wanted to do here. Richie would make a joke, but Eddie didn’t trust himself to ride the line of infuriating and comforting the way Richie did, so that didn’t help much either. The best he could do was try to keep mumbling the jist of what Richie made him feel when he was joking around over Eddie’s allergies and scraped knees and anxieties. “You’re fine, you’re gonna be just fine.”

“You... hate… dirty… things,” Richie ground out, shaking all over. Bev had circled around to put her hand on his back, but the others seemed to be hanging back, letting Eddie talk this out with him first, and Eddie wanted desperately to tell them that he didn’t know what he was doing.

“Wh…” Eddie managed, too stressed to put together all the completely unrelated words coming out of Richie’s mouth. He was going to be brave and see this through and he was going to make sure Richie stopped sobbing like that, but first he had to understand what that was. “I hate…? What are you talking about?”

“He means himself,” Stan said quietly.

“What?” Eddie said, thoroughly flummoxed, before it clicked. “Oh, you mean… Oh, come on, what the fuck, Richie? Do I…? Come on!”

Richie looked up at him, hiccuping slightly, snot and tears flowing down his face. 

“I think you may have to be a bit more specific there,” Bev teased, rubbing Richie’s back.

“But it’s…!” Eddie shouted helplessly. “It’s such baloney! I don’t know where to start!” He gestured at Richie with all the emotions he couldn’t express. “Fuck! I’m… You’re not dirty! I wouldn’t…! God! Richie!”

Richie laughed slightly even as he kept crying. “Okay, okay, don’t hurt yourself there, Eds.”

“Don’t call me…! God! I hate dirty…?! What the fuck!!” Eddie said. “I have never heard you produce such a hot steaming pile of bullshit! What, like I’m gonna…?  _ Oh, no, you like boys? I guess you’ve got… got… I don’t know, fucking cooties?! _ You really thought I’d…?” He let out a helpless scream of rage. “If you ever think I’d honestly hate you for fucking anything, then… then…! Don’t! God!”

Richie laughed again, soft and breathless like he’d really been expecting some kind of rejection here, and Eddie hissed at him angrily and pulled him back into a hug. “Eds, you’re choking me,” Richie squeaked.

“I can’t believe you actually…!” Eddie gritted out, feeling like he was going to go up in flames from how infuriating the thought of Richie ever convincing himself that Eddie would stop being friends with him was.

“I think you broke him,” Stan chuckled, leaning his head onto Richie’s shoulder.

Eddie pushed his hands over his face and yelled into them, then spread them out in front of himself to try to talk himself into steadying. “Okay. Okay, I’m… I’m good. Please, come out to me again now that I know you’re not kidding.”

Richie pulled back, nervously biting at his lip. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. Please,” Eddie said. “If you don’t mind.”

Richie took a shaky little breath, tears gathering in his eyes. “I’m… I’m gay?”

“It’s very brave of you to tell us,” Eddie said. “Thank you.”

“Wow, very cool,” Bev teased. Eddie flipped her off, and she grinned, looking at Richie. “We’re totally gonna talk about dudes now, right?”

Richie smiled slowly. “Yeah, yeah. Viktor Krum, right?”

“Eh… 7 out of 10,” Bev said.

Richie laughed, cautious and small, and Eddie threw himself around Richie’s shoulders and hugged him. Every moment without touching Richie felt like a moment wasted at the moment. “Ugh, you’re such a dumb shit. You thought… I can’t believe you’d think any of us would hate you literally just for being gay. _ ” _

The rest of them followed Eddie’s lead, piling on wherever they found room.

“Jeez, okay, maybe you guys like me,” Richie joked with his shaking, tear-sticky voice. “I just thought maybe this would be… I don’t know. Different.”

“R-Richie,” Bill said. “I’m a  _ werewolf _ and you didn’t mind.”

“Yes,” Richie said, like he was realizing very quickly that he had no leg to stand on. “But would a werewolf look at you naked?”

“Oh, fuck off,” Eddie muttered. “You think the worst thing anyone could do to us is maybe think we’re hot? Jesus, you don’t have a single brain cell rattling in there.” He flicked Richie lightly on the forehead, and Richie blinked at him owlishly before smiling slowly.

“Stop insulting him, he’s just fragile and dumb!” Bev complained.

“Thank you, Ringwald, I feel much better now,” Richie laughed. “Also you’re all crushing me and my ribs still hurt from being kicked like a goddamn football.”

“Oh, fuck!” Eddie cried, shoving the others off of him frantically. “Fuck, yeah, lay down, you’re still injured, holy fuck.” He pushed Richie into the bed and shoved his hand up Richie’s shirt to check his ribs. Richie looked at him with wide eyes. “Oh, grow up. You’re not even the one with your hand up my shirt.”

“You really don’t mind at all?” Richie asked.

“That you’re gay? No, I don’t fucking mind at all. That your ribs could be broken? Yes, I mind that very much.” He put his hands under Richie’s jaw and moved in to inspect the cuts on Richie’s face.

“None of you mind?” Richie asked, almost like he was hoping a little for one of them to say yes. Like it didn’t make sense for this to be a non-issue.

“No,” Ben said. “Of course we don’t mind.”

“I hate to say I told you so,” Mike said, “but I told you so.”

“You’re not just playing nice because I got the shit kicked out of me?” Richie tried.

“N-No,” Bill said. “M-Maybe that’s why we’re trying to calm you d-down as fast as p-p-possible but it’s not why w-we don’t mind.”

“Did you all know except for me?” Eddie blurted, realizing that they’d all given him the same look when he’d thought it was a joke.

“Yeah,” Bev said.

“What the fuck!” Eddie said. “How?!”

“We just… happened to notice… things,” Ben said.

“What if I’ve had… had… indecent thoughts?” Richie asked loudly, like he still wasn’t ready to let it go without some kind of  _ conflict. _ “About you guys?”

“Everything you say is indecent,” Eddie said. “Why would we draw the line at thinking it?”

“But that’s just jokes,” Richie said, peering up at Eddie.

“Did you have a crush on Bill back in the day?” Eddie asked. He actually didn’t care for that thought, Richie pining for Bill who was pining for Beverly who ended up with Ben. There was something sickeningly hopeless about that. But Richie probably wouldn’t stop until someone teased him, and having a crush on Bill seemed safe. They all liked Bill. “Is that what you’re on about?”

Richie went beet red. “No.”

“It’s fine,” Eddie said. “It’s Big Bill. We get it.”

“I didn’t have a crush on Bill!”

Eddie shrugged. “Whatever. I stand by what I said. I can’t speak for the others, but I wouldn’t be angry to find out you think I’m hot.”

“What? Ew. No,” Richie said, blushing even brighter. “I’ve… I don’t…! Shut up!”

Eddie laughed. “You’re such a dork!” he said. “You make jokes about fucking my mom and the second I suggest you might find one of us hot, you’re falling apart!”

“Okay, leave him alone,” Stan said, shoving him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Eddie said, happy to let it go now that Richie’s shoulders were relaxing a little. “God, Richie, you look terrible. Lay down, I’ll get you something to drink.” 

“We’ll do your homework,” Ben said. “Bev can fake your handwriting no problem.”

“But…!” Richie protested, trying to sit up.

“They’re right,” Mike said, gently pressing him back to bed. “You need some rest. It’s not a big hassle to do some of your homework.”

“But I…” Richie whined, before Eddie cut him off by shifting and taking up residence on his chest. He balanced carefully, making sure that he didn’t put too much weight on Richie’s ribs, and tried to drum up a purr. He nestled against Richie, rubbing at his chin, and let the noise come up through his chest.

Richie trailed off, seeming delighted. He was always nagging Eddie to purr, but Eddie hadn’t really known how or cared to learn. But now seemed a good a time as any. Purring was supposed to calm people.

“Jesus, you sound eerie,” Bev murmured.

“He sounds amazing!” Richie cried. “Oh, who’s a happy kitty? A sweet, purring little kitty?”

Eddie put a large paw on his face to shut him up.

“Alright, fine, I guess I’ll get some rest,” Richie sighed, fingers hesitant as he reached up to pet Eddie. Eddie shoved his nose against him a little more insistently, and Richie finally relaxed his hand into Eddie’s fur. “If I must.”

“You must,” Stan said. “We’ll let you know when it’s time for class, and until then, lay down and let yourself heal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we had no power for 4 days and then we had 3 earthquakes and i'm getting married next month so i'm emotionally drained on every level
> 
> but hey, next chapter eddie connects at least one dot in a sea of dots he hasn't noticed yet but he's TRYING okay?????


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *comes out of hiatus with a short, mediocre chapter* i'm still alive i guess???
> 
> sorry for the long wait... i know where this fic is going i just can't seem to make it good???

“So I’ve heard rumors,” said a voice. Stan looked up, squinting at her. She was pretty, but she was also wearing a Slytherin tie. Stan tried to stay away from house stereotypes, but at the moment, he wasn’t in the mood to guess what  _ kind _ of Slytherin she was, not when he was just here to grab some food for Richie and get back to the room.

“That’s nice,” he said, and turned on his heel.

“Wait, wait,” she said, diving in front of him. “Look. I know you’re good friends with Richie, which is why I’m asking. Richie hasn’t been back to the common room in weeks and rumor has it some of you guys might have seen Bowers in the act of using an Unforgivable too, so,  _ anything _ you can tell me…”

Stan pursed his lips. He certainly wanted everyone in the universe to know what Bowers was capable of so they’d finally be rid of him, but it wasn’t like he could just trust anyone. Especially not with Richie’s unlicensed Animagus activities. “Look, what’s your name?”

“Patty,” she said. “Patty Blum.”

“Great,” Stan said. “I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’re asking for, I don’t--”

“Daisy and I are just trying to find something that could get him out on his ass before he has time to take revenge like he has on every other person that’s tried to get him and Patrick expelled,” Patty said. “So if you know something that would actually get Snape to get off his ass and do something, like, yesterday, that would be great. We’re tired of Bowers terrorizing the campus.”

Stan sighed. He wanted that more than anything at the moment, but he couldn’t risk getting Richie in trouble with him. “He’s been Crucioing animals to death all semester, everyone knows it.”

“Did you see it?” she pressed.

“Maybe,” Stan said. “But the fox is already long gone, so I don’t know how you’re going to prove it.”

“What about Richie?” she asked.

“What about him?” Stan asked coldly. She couldn’t possibly know he and the fox were one and the same, but the leap didn’t exactly put him at ease.

“I know they’ve been cruel to him since he’s been here,” she said. “Is there anything they did to him that would get Snape’s attention?”

Stan’s neck prickled with frustration. Snape wouldn’t give a damn about Richie unless  _ maybe _ they convinced him that Richie had been the victim of an Unforgivable Curse, but since it had happened while he was a fox… “Look, I can’t help you,” he said. “Not with that. If you want me to tell someone he’s been torturing animals, then yeah, we can give you that. But what happened to Richie is none of your business.”

Fury flitted over her face, which sadly was all too convincing. She really was on their side, which made it infuriating to know that there wasn’t any way to explain without getting Richie into even more trouble. “Whatever he did, he’ll do it again,” she said.

“Like I said,” Stan said, because it was  _ true _ and he hated it. “I’m sorry. But I can’t help you.”

“But he  _ did _ hurt Richie?” she asked. “And you’re not going to do anything about it?”

He gritted his teeth. “If you find something else to take to Snape, I’ll help. But this is different.”

“Fine,” she muttered. “Whatever.”

He watched her storm off, resisting the urge to bang his head into a wall a few times as he stuffed his bag with food and headed back to the room.

**

“So,” Eddie said, wrinkling his nose. “How did you know you were gay?”

“Uh,” Richie replied, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck. It was not fun trying to answer this question while staring down the answer. “I mean I… look at guys… and they’re… I mean… They look good?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Eddie said. “But everyone can look at an attractive guy and say, that’s an attractive guy. Same with girls. I mean, you know when a girl is pretty, right?”

“I mean, yeah, I have eyes,” Richie said. He didn’t like where this was going.

“So, like, there has to be like… some kind of specific, like, attraction,” Eddie pressed. “To guys.”

“I guess,” Richie muttered. 

“Is it… I mean, is it sexual?” Eddie asked. “Like, do you think about sex with guys?”

“No!” Richie blurted. “No, no way.”

“Can’t do that to my mom, huh?” Eddie teased.

Richie let out a cautious chuckle. “Yeah, I mean, she’d be heartbroken.”

“No, but seriously,” Eddie said. “You’ve got to think about guys sexually sometimes.”

_ “No,” _ Richie said empathetically. 

“Are you not into sex?” Eddie asked, cocking his head.

“I am,” Richie mumbled. “I just… Most guys wouldn’t want me thinking about them like that. And it’s scary enough just fantasizing about… like… going on a date.”

Eddie visibly bites on the inside of his cheek to keep from giggling at that. “That’s really sad but also super cute, you know that, right?”

“Shut up,” Richie said. “Anyway, come on. It’s not like you only know you like a girl when you jerk off to her.” He pauses. “I mean, I’d hope.”

“Please, I’m so bad at crushes,” Eddie said. “I think I just convince myself I should be having them.” He sighed. “I don’t know why. I guess because everyone else had them.”

“Oh, but you  _ must _ think of someone sexually,  _ right?” _ Richie parroted.

“Okay, okay, fine, I ask dumb questions, laugh it up,” Eddie sighed. “I didn’t expect you to be gay! I’m still processing!” He gives Richie a soft look. “So no, I don’t think I ever think of anyone while jerking off. Like, not specific people.”

“How do you think of unspecific people jerking off?” Richie asked, though he regretted it immediately. This was an awful idea, but he was in it this far and now he needed answers.

“Like, you know, just their bodies,” Eddie said. “But like, fucking. Like, I think of just… a faceless guy fucking a faceless woman.”

“Why  _ a _ guy? Why not yourself?” Richie asked, horrified at himself but unable to stop.

“Because you can’t imagine doing the fucking and move your hand at the same time,” Eddie said, pumping his fist over his crotch in a mimickry that would probably haunt Richie’s dreams forever. “It’s too confusing.”

“What?” Richie managed.

“You don’t have this problem?” Eddie asked.

“No!” Richie laughed despite himself. “I don’t think anyone has that problem!”

“You can imagine yourself doing, like…” Eddie snapped his hips and Richie felt his brain break as he watched it, helpless. “And still focus on your hand?”

“I don’t,” Richie stammered. “I don’t imagine any of…” He waved his hands at Eddie faintly.

“Oh,” Eddie said. “Do you… The other way around?”

“No!” Richie said. “None of… Merlin, Eds!”

“Do you not jerk off?” Eddie tried.

“I do!” Richie said, oddly defensive. “I just don’t think of anything. Or anyone.”

“Because you think they’d be mad?” Eddie asked, gentle again.

“They  _ would _ be,” Richie muttered.

“I wouldn’t be,” Eddie said, with ridiculous confidence.

Richie stared at him. “You wouldn’t be?”

“No,” Eddie said. “Why would I be?”

“Because… I… I would be… I mean…” Richie managed. He was pretty sure he would combust and sizzle away if he so much as thought about thinking about Eddie like that, much less doing it while jerking off. And yet, here Eddie was, cool as a cucumber. Richie couldn’t tell if he was overcompensating because of Richie’s terror last night or if he was serious.

Stan thankfully opened the door at this moment, preventing Richie from driving himself mad trying to probe further.

“Richie, do you know Patty Blum?” Stan asked.

Richie nodded, trying to clear the awful notion of jerking off to Eddie from his mind to focus on this, and Eddie sulkily started rifling through his bag for something. “Yeah. She’s a sixth year. She’s cool.”

“She asked me if I knew anything about Bowers using Unforgivables,” Stan said. “She wants to expel him for sure.”

“Good,” Richie said. “That would be great!”

“Except we can’t exactly tell her anything about this,” Stan said. “Because you weren’t human when it happened?”

“Um,” Richie said, then regretted it, but it was already too late. Eddie and Stan were staring at him, looking ready to kill a man. “So this wasn’t the first time he used an Unforgivable on me?”

“Richie,” Eddie said, very slowly. “What the  _ fuck _ does that mean?”

**

“How could you not  _ tell _ us that they used the  _ Imperius  _ curse on you?” Eddie snapped. “First of all, it’s illegal, second of all, they could have done so many awful things to you with it, third of all…” 

Bev elbowed him in the side.

Richie was wilting in on himself, and Eddie stopped. He didn’t want to make things worse. He groaned and clambered on top of Richie to wrap his arms around him. “We’re your friends. You have to tell us stuff so we can be there for you. Idiot.”

Stan shook his head. “I suppose I can meet up with Patty, figure out how much we can trust her. This might actually get Bowers expelled, if we can use it right.”

“Not even Snape would look away from an Imperius charm,” Mike added. “Especially within his own house. He doesn’t like Richie, but he’s still a Slytherin.”

Richie sniffled into Eddie’s shoulder. “I didn’t want to worry you guys,” he muttered.

“We worry about you anyway,” Bev said. “Tough luck.”

Eddie squeezed him tighter.

Stan sighed. “I need to go find Patty and see what we can do about this. But next time we go meet up with Bill, we’re going to put you on a leash or something so we don’t lose sight of you.”

Richie swallowed tightly, and Eddie didn’t need to check the watch this time to know it was one of those terrible times he’d gotten tired of seeing. He was starting to recognize the hidden signs. “Actually, can Richie and I have a bit of time alone?” Eddie asked the others.

They blinked at him, surprised, but they all nodded quickly. “S-Sure thing, Eddie,” Bill said, grabbing his back. “Stan, I’ll come with you.”

They all ruffled Richie’s hair on their way out, and Bev kissed his cheek too. 

And then it was just the two of them.

Richie looked up at Eddie, nervous. “What’s up, Eds?” he asked. “Wanna yell at me for being irresponsible again?”

“Why did Stan talking about going out with Bill make you feel bad?” Eddie asked.

Richie stopped short for a moment. “Uh… I don’t know, did it?”

“Yes,” Eddie insists. “Tell me why.”

Richie bit at his lip for a moment, then blurted, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “I’m… I’ve been scared to shift. It was really scary being trapped in such a small body and unable to talk and… And I don’t know how I’m going to do it again.”

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Eddie snapped. “We wouldn’t be mad!”

“No, but you’d tell me to just… not bother, and I don’t want that!” Richie cried. “I  _ love _ hanging out with Bill and being a fox and I don’t want to lose it, and I don’t want you to tell me I don’t have to do it when I want to!”

“Okay!” Eddie shouted. “So we’ll help you! It’s not that hard!”

Richie fell silent. “Well… okay.”

Eddie sighed and clambered to his feet, putting his hands on his hips. “Room, I think Richie needs some privacy, so if you could just make sure only the two of us can be in here for the time being?”

A large padlock clanged over the door. 

“Thank you,” Eddie said, then turned his attention back to Richie. “Now it’s just us. You’re safe.” He dropped down to his knees and held his arms out. “Try shifting. Just for a second.”

Richie stared at him, knees pulled up to his chest.

“I promise I’ll keep you safe,” Eddie murmured.

Richie nodded and clambered onto his hands and knees, shifting quickly and darting into Eddie’s arms.

Eddie scooped him up and held him tight, feeling the tremors running through the tiny fox body. He kissed Richie’s head and rocked him, but it was only a few moments before Richie was rolling away and shifting back.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay,” Eddie said. “You did it.” He smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

Richie smiled carefully. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “You’ve done a lot of scary things lately, Rich, and I’m proud of you.”

Richie curled up again, though he was still smiling. “Well, okay,” he said softly. “Thanks.”

“Actually, I have an idea,” Eddie said. “One of the few things my mom actually did right for me.” He paused awkwardly. “Uh, room? Sorry, can you, like, make a bath in here?”

A small door appeared beside them, and upon opening it, Eddie found an elaborate tub with all kinds of nozzles, much like the prefects bathroom. He grinned. “Come on.”

Richie hesitated. “Do you… want me to… um…?” he said, quietly worrying at his robes.

“Get undressed for a bath?” Eddie asked, snorting. “Uh, yeah.”

Richie cleared his throat. “It doesn’t… make you uncomfortable?”

“No, not really,” Eddie said. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“Yeah, but I’m… you know,” Richie mumbled.

“So?” Eddie said. “You’re the one who’s undressed.”

“Right,” Richie said, clearing his throat and shrugging off his clothes. Eddie averted his eyes, busying himself with running a nice, warm bath.

As he shut the water off, Richie quickly slipped into the water, sinking beneath the bubbles. “Um, so…?”

“Just try shifting,” Eddie said. “And I’ll wash you. It’s very calming, I promise.”

Richie gave him a wary look. “You don’t mind touching me?”

Eddie groaned. “No, I don’t mind touching you. What, am I gonna get cooties?”

“No, but…”

“Richie, I’m mocking you,” Eddie said. “Don’t answer.”

Richie snorted. “Okay, okay,” he said.

Eddie folded his sleeves up and put his forearms in the water for Richie to jump into. “Come on, just for as long as you can manage.”

Richie shifted and quickly paddled into his arms, letting Eddie keep him above the surface with one arm and gently wet his head with the other.

He hadn’t asked for shampoo, but there was already some on the side of the tub, so Eddie grabbed it and carefully massaged it into Richie’s red fur. He worked slowly, cooing to Richie like a baby as he did, and the trembling eased slowly. Richie blinked at him slowly as Eddie gently washed his head and his big ears.

Eddie smiled at him, happy to see him slowly relaxing into the warmth of the bath. “There you go, baby,” he murmured. “Little baby fox.”

Richie yipped at him softly as he tried not to doze off. 

Eddie’s heart soared. He’d finally done something to help Richie through everything that had been going on lately. Nothing else seemed to matter but Richie’s quiet little yawn as he rested against Eddie’s forearm.

He seemed to be falling asleep for real, though, so Eddie tugged him out and dried him with a quick spell, carrying him back to the bed. He shifted too, curling around Richie as best he could and purring until he fell asleep too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sure would be a shame if richie only being able to shift in a nice, warm, safe bath led to eddie noticing a lack of a certain smell

**Author's Note:**

> If you're like me and need people's houses clarified like thirty five times before you actually remember, you're in luck, bc here's a summary:  
Slytherin: Richie  
Ravenclaw: Ben and Stan  
Gryffindor: Bev, Bill and Eddie  
Hufflepuff: Mike (and Georgie)


End file.
